Northmen ready to chase Ontario title
Monday May 12 2008
By Mike Rawn, Staff Writer
After coming painfully close to winning a provincial title a year ago, the Orangeville Junior A Northmen are taking aim at their first Ontario title since 2000.
While nobody is saying if the Northmen — who finished second in the Ontario Lacrosse Association with a 14-3-1 record — are as good as last year’s squad, some comparisons are already being made.
“I know we’ll be faster than last year, if you can believe that,” Northmen coach Matt Sawyer says. “And I know we’ll be the hardest working team again. What kind of team we’re going to have will have to take shape. But I know we don’t have one guy that can’t play defence. So everybody can go up and down the floor, which is a luxury.”
Gone from last year’s team that lost to Six Nations in a tough six game Ontario final are the second and third leading scorers, Matt Lyons and captain Mike MacLeod. The team will also miss MacLeod’s leadership and toughness, and the defensive presence of Matt Baker and Cody Richardson.
“We’ve lost a ton,” Sawyer says. “Every year you have guys that graduate, but the guys that we lost this past year meant a lot to this team. They did a lot of different things for us. We have to be very, very careful in not underestimating what they brought. The way we’re going to replace that is from within. We expect the guys who have been on our team the past year or two to take big steps forward and improve their numbers.”
The Northmen will be expecting big contributions from last year’s leading scorer Mat MacLeod (65 points in 18 games) and Adam Jones, the OLA Junior B leading scorer who will play full-time with the Northmen this season. The defence will be anchored by goalie Nick Rose, the reigning OLA Rookie of the Year. The Northmen will be a young team again, with six first-year Junior A runners and one goalie (Dillon Ward).
“We’ve got a lot of younger kids,” Northmen veteran Jeff Ivey says. “Especially being a fifth year guy you notice it. We’re young and we’re fast, faster than last year as hard as that is to believe. This team will be really good.”
But will they be good enough to beat Six Nations? The defending Minto Cup champs have won four straight provincial titles, but lost league MVP Shawn Evans, starting goalie Ben VanEvery and all-star Craig Point to over-age.
“Until someone knocks them off, they’re the team to beat,” Sawyer says about Six Nations. “I think Brampton will be good again, and I expect Peterborough to be really strong. This league as a whole is really strong. We finished second overall last year, but we came out on the right end of a lot of close games. If they go the other way you can quickly drop.”
The Rayburn Construction Northmen kick off their season at home on Sunday against Peterborough. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Tony Rose Memorial Sports Centre.
“We’re excited about it and the kids are ready to go,” Sawyer says. “We’re only here for one reason, and that’s to try to win it all.”
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