August 8, 2024 · 0 Comments
By Brian Lockhart
The Junior A Northmen are leading the Mimico Mountaineers 2-1 in the OJLL championship final series.
The best-of-seven series got underway on Wednesday, July 31, at Tony Rose Arena in Orangeville.
The Northmen had a dominant first period to lead 5-2 and kept up the pressure for the rest of the game.
They left the floor with a 12-9 win to start the series.
In Mimico for game two of the series, it was a 2-2 tie at the end of the first period. It was a tough battle with the third period making all the difference when the Northmen outscored the Mountaineers 6-3 for the period to take a 13-9 win.
“I’m pretty happy with the season,” said Northmen general manager Nick Rose. “Coming into any season we will expect to at least be in the mix and hopefully be a contender this time of the year. The way the guys have responded after falling a little bit short last year, for the guys who were around last year, I’m real happy about the way they have elevated their play this season.”
It has been a very physical season in the Junior Lacrosse League this year and Rose acknowledges the team battled hard.
“Us and Mimico, we are playing in the Ontario finals as the two most penalized teams in the League. I don’t think we play very dirty, but obviously the nature of Junior Lacrosse – it gets pretty chippy out there, and the guys have to defend themselves, which leads to penalties. It’s a physical league and obviously it’s a physical sport at any level, but we try to limit how much we have to do that.”
Mimco entered the championships series as the third place team.
“We are there tonight for game two, it will probably be the most important game of the series, just because they get a good crowd, and it’s a hostile environment. They’re playing well at home, similar to us,” Nick said.
The series returned to Orangeville for Game 3 on Sunday, August 4.
The game went into overtime when the third period ended in a 9-9 after Aiden Long and Trey Deere scored the final two goals of the game to tie it up.
The Mountaineers scored in OT to end the game and get their first win of the series.
Game four of the series was played in Mimico on Tuesday, Aug. 6.
Results were not available at press time.
If the Northmen can win on the road, they can return to their home floor at Tony Rose Arena for Game 5 and wrap it up with a win in front of a hometown crowd.
Game 5 is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 8, at 8:00 p.m.