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Jr. A Northmen face Brampton in OJALL championship

August 2, 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Orangeville Junior A Northmen are up against the Brampton Excelsiors in the battle for the Ontario Junior A Lacrosse League championship.

This is a huge turn-around for the Club.

Last season the Northmen bowed out early after losing their first round series to Mimico in a three game sweep.

The Northmen had a good regular season this year finishing in fourth place with a 12-8 record.

In a surprise start to the playoffs the first place Burlington Chiefs were knocked out of competition early when they lost the opening round to the eighth seed Toronto Beaches in a series that went the full five games.

Toronto was finished in the next round after being eliminated by Brampton in four games.

The Northmen were up against the St. Catharines Athletics in the second round of playoffs.

The Athletics finished the regular season in third place, just two points ahead of the Northmen and one more win recorded for 13 for the season.

That set up the series for some good competition between two pretty evenly matched teams – at least on paper.

Game on of the series got underway on July 22, in St. Catharines. After taking a 5-3 lead in the first period the O-ville team stayed ahead for the rest of the night to leave the floor with a 9-5 win.

Returning to Tony Rose arena for game two, the Northmen went into the third period with a 4-1 lead. The Athletics battled hard outscoring the Northmen 4-2 in the final period but the Northmen held on for a 6-5 win to lead the series 2-0.

Game three was another tough battle. This time the St. Catharines team came out on top after scoring the only second period goals to win 6-4 and get back in the series.

Game four of the series came down the third period after the teams played to a 3-3 tie at the end of the second. The game was tied early in the third period.

The Northmen turned it up a notch and won the game on three final goals from Sam Firth, Grant Scott, and Scott Dominey.

The final game of the series took place in St. Catharines on Saturday (July 28) night.

After playing to a 1-1 tie in the first period, the Northmen got the edge in the second period and went ahead 4-2 on goals from Grant Scott, and a pair from Scott Dominey.

A huge effort by both squads in the final period produced no goals and the Northmen left the floor with a 4-2 win to claim the series and earn the right to advance to the championship.

Game one of the final series got underway on Tuesday (July 31) night in Brampton.

After a scoreless first period the Northmen blasted into the second scoring four unanswered goals for the period including a hattrick from Ty Thompson.

After giving up three early goals to the Excelsiors early in the third, the O-ville squad finished off the night with two final goals to win 6-3 and take a one game lead in the series.

Game two of the series is scheduled for tonight, Thursday, August 2, at Tony Rose arena in Orangeville.

Game time is 8:00 p.m.

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