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Jr B Northmen first place in division

May 27, 2015   ·   0 Comments

The Orangeville Junior B Northmen slammed the Elora Mohawks 16-5 Thursday night (May 21) at the Alder Street arena in Orangeville to add another two points to their total.

The Northmen are in first place in the Mid West division of the OJBLL and are leading the League in points with 22 – two points ahead of the Six Nations Rebels with who currently have 20 points –  although the Rebels have played two less games.

Thursday night’s game saw the two teams trade goals in the first period ending with O-ville leading 4-3 at the end of the frame.

It was the second period that saw the Northmen return to annihilate the Mohawks after going on a rampage that ended with Orangeville giving up a single early in the period but then going on to score eight unanswered goals before the buzzer sounded to end the period.

That included four goals by O-ville’s Shane Hillis to add to the one he scored in the first period.

Returning for the final period, the Northmen ended the game with three more to take the game 16-5.

“It’s been a good start, obviously we’d like to have that Windsor game (loss on April 25) back, we didn’t have the best effort in that one. But we’ve been pretty solid for the most part,” Said Northmen head coach Bruce Codd. “Our record is where we hoped to be at this point. I’m satisfied, but I wouldn’t say happy.”

Looking at the strengths of this year’s squad, Codd said, “We have contributions from all over the floor. Last year we kind of relied on a few guys early in the season to carry us through. This year we’re getting scoring from lots of different guys. There’s six or seven guys that have chipped in on the offensive side that has made it tough for other teams to key in on one specific person. We’ve been happy with the play of some of our young guys. Ty Mikiluk is a guy who comes to mind. We didn’t have him on our radar coming into camp and he’s played every game and won a lot of face-offs and played solid ‘D’. Riley Armstrong, another young kid, right out of Midget has played really strong in the back end. So we’ve had some surprises in that sense.”

A work in progress, the team is always looking for ways to improve their game.

“We have a lot of things we have to work on,” Codd said. “One area where we’ve struggled is our penalty kill. We’re right at the bottom of the league in our penalty kill. Last year it was a strength for us. This year, for whatever reason, hasn’t been real good. Obviously I think we can be better in all aspects of the game.”

The squad followed up the weekend with an 8-5 win over the Red Devils in Wallaceburg on Sunday, May 24.

Monday’s home game in Orangeville ended with a 7-6 win over the Owen Sound NorthStars.

After 12 games the Northmen have suffered only one loss this season and now are riding on a 11-2 record

The Junior B Northmen are in St. Catharines tonight (May 28) to take on the Spartans.

The will return to their home floor at the Alder Street arena in Orangeville on Saturday, May 30, to host the Niagara Thunderhawks.

Game time is 7:00 p.m.

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