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Junior B Northmen debut new squad for 2018

April 27, 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

After a successful championship 2017 season, the Orangeville Junior B Northmen are back on the floor with some big changes for 2018 including a lot of new players and a new head coach.

Head man on the bench this season is Brandon Sanderson – taking over for Bruce Codd who was head coach last season.

Sanderson is a former Jr. A Northmen player who played with Minto Cup winning teams and played wit the National Lacrosse League.

His former head coaching experience includes being on the bench with the Owen Sound Sr. B North Stars, assistant coach with the Barrie Jr. A Lakeshores, and at Minor Nationals with Nova Scotia.

“He will have his hands full with an

extremely young squad, however his enthusiasm and knowledge of the game will help him immensely,” said Northmen General Manager, Ryan Dowdall.

Former northmen and NLL alums, Chet Koneczny and Chad Culp will serve as assistant coaches along with Sanderson’s father Lindsay Sanderson.

The Northmen will have 17 new players on the roster this season with eleven of those players being true rookies – born in 2001. Several of the players are graduating Orangeville Midget players.

Three on the squad, Brett Draper, Liam McGrath, and Ryland Baird, have been brought in from Nova Scotia. Two players, offensive lefty, Mitchell Bernier, and and veteran defender, Josh Goodwin, arrived on trade from Guelph and Newmarket, respectively.

Eight players on the roster are returning players. Cameron Spencer will be the Captain this season, wit Grayson Houghton and Riley Armstrong wearing the ‘A’s’.

Significant losses from last year include leading scorer Shane Hillis, Captain Mike Sutton, and playoff leading scorer Nik Farrus.

The Junior B Northmen have had a very successful couple of seasons behind them winning back to back Founders Cups.

However, GM Dowdall said that realistically, it would be difficult to see an almost brand new team follow such success easily.

“Our mindset has shifted somewhat this season,” Dowdall said. “The past two years we knew that we had a strong, veteran laden team that had the potential to contend. To put this group under the pressure to ‘three-peat’ this season would be unfair to them. Our goal is to make the playoffs and see what happens from there. With so may young players, expecting anything more would be unrealistic. As with any Northmen team, the coaches will preach hard work and consistency. If the guys buy in, they may surprise a lot of people.”

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