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Jr A Northmen open the season with a pair of wins

May 21, 2014   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart – It’s always a good day when the first game of the season ends with an entry in the ‘W’ column.

The Rayburn Construction Junior A Northmen started off the season with a 14-9 win over the Burlington Chiefs at the Alder Street arena in Orangeville on Friday, May 16.

The game opened with a frenzied first period that saw the Northmen notch nine goals – three of them on a powerplay – to Burlington’s five.

Northmen goals came from Jamie McMahon, Brandon Celland, Jordan Dance, Connor Brown, Ian Mackay, and a whopping four goals from Davis Neal.

Things slowed down in the second frame with the O-ville squad notching a single from Mackay and Burlington trying hard to close the gap, scoring three for the period.

Mackay was the big winner in the third period scoring three more for a total of five for the game.

The Chiefs scored a single in the final twenty minutes but that was all they could do for the night and the Northmen left the floor with their first win of the season.

“I thought it was a strong first period, the second I thought we took our foot off the gas a little bit. We had some good opportunities that didn’t fall our way. In the third I thought it was a consistent effort for us,” is how Northmen head coach DJ Clevely summed up his observation of the game.

The squad returned for the third period and allowed on Burlington goal before slamming four more to end the game.

Northmen goals came from Brandon Clelland, and three from Ian Mackay.

“I think it’s a young group, but it’s a resilient group,” Clevely said of the team’s performance in the final twenty minutes. “They’ve been around teams that have won and they know what it takes, so yeah, we showed some resiliency.”

The squad notched win number two on Sunday, May 18, when they travelled to Mississauga and delivered a 17-4 slam-dunk to the Tomahawks.

The first period told most of the story when the Northmen scored eight unanswered goals to pretty much end the game before the second period even started.

They followed up with six more in the second frame and three goals in the final 20 minutes to cap it off.

As far as the roster goes for 2014, Clevely said they are still looking to fill a few spots on the bench.

“We are pretty close – we are waiting for three guys to come back from school and two guys at the Hill Academy. After that we’ll pretty much have out team back.”

The team had a few guys filling in to complete the roster for the first few games and that has worked out well.

“Our Junior B guys were outstanding tonight. They weren’t out of place at all,” he said of the players that came up to fill the bench.

The Northmen will have two home games this weekend at the Alder Street arena in Orangeville.

On Friday, May 23, they will host the Whitby Warriors with an 8:00 p.m. start.

They will play a second home game on Sunday, May 25, when the Barrie Lakeshores come to town.

That game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

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