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Jr B Northmen done for the season

August 5, 2015   ·   0 Comments

The Orangeville Junior B Northmen are done for the season after taking a 6-1 loss to the Six Nations Rebels in game five of their West Division final series.

The loss came after the Northmen had an incredible comeback in the  series after trailing two games at the start.

The Northmen had a great season finishing in first place in the  Mid West division of the Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League with a 16-3-1 record and 33 points.

That’s fourth over all in the 25 team League.

Entering the playoffs the Northmen handled the Guelph Rebels winning the quarter-final series in a three game sweep scoring 17 goals in the opening game of the match-up.

Moving into the semi-finals the Northmen dispatched the Niagara Thunderhawks in a series that went five games and ended with an 7-4 Orangeville win on July 19, to advance to the final against Six Nations.

The final series turned into a tough battle with a Six Nations 8-6 win in the first game.

The Rebels went ahead by two games after squeezing out a one goal victory in game two and leaving the arena with a 6-5 win.

The Northmen returned with a fury in game three and went to the Iroquois Lacrosse Centre determined to keep the series alive.

After taking a 3-0 lead in the first period, the O-ville squad hammered the Rebels with a 5-1 second period to enter the final frame with a seven goal lead.

The Six Nations squad fought back scoring three but the Northmen held on for the win.

Returning to the Alder Street arena on Sunday (Aug. 2) for game four, Northmen fans turned out in droves and weren’t disappointed when the  Orangeville squad left the floor with a 9-6 win to force game five of the series on Six Nations territory.

“In Friday night’s game I thought it our first period,” Said Northmen coach Bruce Codd. “They took a lot of penalties. The game before that, game two here in Orangeville, we didn’t capitalize on our powerplay opportunities. I think their game plan was to be a bit more physical – if they took penalties, so what, because we hadn’t really burned them. They took some penalties and our powerplay made them pay for that. In the third period we played smart and made sure they didn’t get on any kind of run.”

The return to Orangeville for game four saw the Rebels leading 3-2 at the end of the first period but a huge second period response from the Northmen saw the game turn around with Orangeville leading 6-5 going into the final frame.

“I thought the first two periods weren’t our best,” Codd said. “We worked really hard but made some uncharacteristic mistakes. We got that big six on five goal at the end of the second period that gave us a lift going into the third period. There was 6.5 seconds left on the clock. In the dressing room you could see the energy was really high. In the third period I though we did a great job defensively. We had a lot of guys stepping in front of shots and soaking up balls – big moves for the betterment of the team. I think that’s why we were successful tonight. We really wanted it.”

The win set up the series for a final showdown, winner take all, in game five at Six Nations.

In the final game the Rebels got the edge with a 3-0 shut-out in the first period then followed up with three more in the second frame to lead Orangeville 6-1 going into the final 20 minutes.

Both teams played a strong defensive game in the final period with neither team being able to score.

Six Nations  won the division championship with  a 6-1 win over Orangeville in the final game.

The Rebels will now go on to play the Akwesasne Indians in the final series for the OJBLL championship.

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