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Orangeville Junior C Northmen to spend 2025 rebuilding with new coaching staff

March 20, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

For the Orangeville Junior C Northmen, 2025 will be a rebuilding year, with a very different-looking team, as the upcoming lacrosse season gets underway.

The Junior C Northmen lost 11 graduating players at the end of the last season, so there will be many new players on the floor this year.

There will also be a new coaching staff. Branden Hunt is taking over head coaching duties.

Hunt led Orangeville’s U22 lacrosse team to a silver medal at the Provincial level last season.

Joining Hunt on the bench will be Andrew Bennett, Trevor Castle, and Ian Starr.

There will also be some changes in the Ontario Junior C Lacrosse League this season.

The team from Barrie has moved up the Junior B ranks and the Branford team has relocated to Burlington.

The OJCLL has accepted new expansion teams into the League.

Kahnawake and West Grey were approved to join the league by the league executive. 

Kahnawake will join in 2025 and West Grey will join in 2026.

Scarborough’s bid to start a team was denied for this season as the Ontario Lacrosse Association (OLA) has concerns over the area not having a minor lacrosse system to draw from. The OLA also shared concerns about not being able to continually find players for the future.

It is expected Scarborough will apply again next season after joining up with an existing minor system in the east Toronto area.

With the addition of Kahnawake, the league has now split into five divisions.

The West Division will include Orangeville, Burlington, Fergus, Six Nations, and Wilmot.

In the Central Division, teams will be Clarington, Halton, Huntsville, Peterborough, and Whitby.

The East Division will have teams from Akwasasne, Cornwall, Kahnawake, Nepean, and North Shore (Mascouche, Quebec).

These moves will affect the schedule as each team will play two home and two away cross-over games.

The Northmen will be up against Peterborough and Cornwall in their cross-over games.

Your first chance to see the new Orangeville Junior C Northmen team will be on Saturday, April 19, when the Northmen host their annual pre-season tournament.

Teams from Fergus, Wilmot, Six Nations, Clarington, and Peterborough will attend.

The Junior C Northmen will start the 2025 season at home on Saturday, April 26, playing against Six Nations at Tony Rose Arena. 

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