
April 27, 2018 · 0 Comments
By Brian Lockhart
It’s always good to win your home opener in front of a crowd of hometown fans and the Orangeville Junior B Northmen didn’t disappoint when they hosted the Owen Sound North Stars at the Alder Street arena on Tuesday (Apr. 24) night.
The night started off with a positive note when last season’s captain, Mike Sutton, and assistant captain Shane Hillis returned to the arena to present the 2017 Founder’s Cup banner that will hang in the arena.
The team had back to back wins at the national level over the past two seasons
This game was the first big test for the new Northmen line-up. With an almost brand new team including 17 new players, it was the first time this squad did battle in the regular season.
After giving up two goals in the first period, Orangeville’s Jeremy Searle got the squad’s first goal of the year at 1:20 into the second period.
Owen Sound went ahead on a powerplay goal.
The Northmen tied it up on goals from Cameron Spencer and Jayden Sample.
The period ended with two North Star goals and another Northmen goal from Liam Smith on a powerplay to make it a 5-4 Owen Sound game with one period left to go.
The third period saw the O-vill squad shut down the North Stars attack and take the lead on a powerplay goal from Brett Draper to tie it up, and a final Northmen goal from Jake Dithurbide at the 14:56 mark in the period to give the Orangeville team the lead.
The game ended with a 6-5 win for the Northmen in their first outing of the season.
The OJHLL has 25 teams in the line-up this season playinng in six divisions.
The Northmen are in the Mid West division along with the Elora Mohawks, the Guelph Regals, and the Owen Sound North Stars.
The Northmen will be in Elora this Sunday, (Apr. 29) to take on the Mohawks.
They will return to the Alder Street arena on Tuesday, May 1, to host the Guelph Regals.
Game time is 8:00 p.m.