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Orangeville Junior A Northmen advance to finals

August 1, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Orangeville Junior A Northmen are going to the OJLL finals after eliminating the St. Catharines Athletics in a three-game sweep in their best-of-five semi-final series. 

The Northmen came to the series after dispatching the Toronto Beaches in the first round in three games.

St. Catharines came to the series as the fifth-place team in the League and finished the regular season with a 10-10 record.

Orangeville finished the regular season in first place with a 17-3 record and 34 points.

Game one of the semi-final series got underway on July 21 on the Northmen’s home floor at Tony Rose Arena in Orangeville. The Northmen were on fire in game one, outscoring the Athletics 7-1 in the first period. They followed up with six more goals in the second period before the Athletics could respond.

The final was a devastating 16-4 win for the Northmen in game one.

Game two took place in St. Catharines at the Canada Games Arena. The Northmen had a 4-3 lead at the end of the first period.

They managed to stay in the lead for the rest of the game for a 9-6 win.

The pressure was all on the Athletics when the teams returned to Orangeville for game three on Saturday, July 28,  and St. Catharines faced elimination with a loss.

St. Catharines scored first.

It was a 3-3 tie at the end of the first period, with Northmen goals coming from Brian Jackman, Aiden Long, and Colm Barnett.

At the end of the second period, the Northmen were trailing by a single goal, with the Athletics leading 8-7.

Second-period Northmen goals came from Cam Sanderson, Bowie Horseman, and two from Joey Spallina.

The Northmen roared into the final period, scoring six unanswered goals to shut out the Athletics for the period and taking a 13-8 win to end the series.

Third-period Northmen goals came from Brian Jackman, Bowie Horseman, Joey Spallina, and a hattrick from Liam Matthews.

The Northmen will now face the Mimico Mountaineers in the final series.

Mimico ended the regular season in third place with a 12-8 record and 24 points. They eliminated the Peterborough Lakers in the semi-finals in a series that went four games.

The top five teams in the OJLL this year, in order, are Orangeville Northmen, Peterborough Lakers, Mimico Mountaineers, Burlington Blaze, and the St. Catharines Athletics.

The Northmen dominated the League this season, finishing 10 points ahead of the second-place Lakers. They lost only three games during the regular season and are undefeated in the playoffs.

The final series will be an exciting match-up with two competitive teams battling it out for the top spot.

Schedule for final series.

Game one: Wednesday, July 31, – Tony Rose Arena 8 p.m.

Game two: Friday, August 2, – Mimico Arena 8 p.m.

Game three: Sunday, August 4, – Tony Rose Arena 8 p.m.

Game four: Tuesday, August 6, – Mimico Arena 8 p.m.

* Game five: Thursday, August 8, – Tony Rose Arena 8 p.m.

* Game six: Saturday, August 10, – Mimico Arena 7 p.m.

* Game seven: Sunday, August 11, – Tony Rose Arena 7 p.m.

* If necessary


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