NORTHMEN GLEN BRYAN gets a shot off under pressure in front of the Peterborough Lakers goal in Junior A action Tuesday. Photo/MIKE MALONEY While it may be a bit premature to say the wheels have fallen off the bus, it sure looks like they have picked up a flat tire as the Rayburn Construction Junior A Northmen wrapped up the regular season and prepare to start the opening round of the Ontario Lacrosse Association playoffs.

Heading into Friday night's game against the Whitby Warriors, Orangeville was riding the wave of wins over Toronto Beaches and Orillia. With solid efforts in their last five outings, they seemed to have the chips finally falling into place.

Through the first period against Whitby, that trend looked to be continuing.

Lead by goals from Jesse Gamble, Nat Sanderson, Brady Campbell and a pair from Matt Lyons, Orangeville totally dominated the play with Mike Poulin shutting the door time and time again to start the second up 5-0.

Whitby caught Orangeville coasting off the top of the mid-frame, getting onto the board just 42 seconds into the period. They struck again five minutes later, flooding the Northmen end on a slow line change for their second of the game.

Another pair at full strength then two powerplay markers put the Warriors in the lead with 2:58 remaining in the period.

A power-play marker from Cody Richardson in the last minute seemed to momentarily spark the offence again, but that was short lived with the Warriors responding in kind 21 seconds later.

Two fast goals in the first minute of the third sent Poulin to the showers early with Evan Kirk coming in to take up position between the Northmen pipes.

Nic Mastine picked up a rebound off the backboard and fired it home to close the gap to 9-7 nearing the halfway point of the third.

Another Whitby marker appeared close to having put the game on ice until a pair from Matt MacLeod narrowed it to a one goal margin with 14 seconds left, but that's as close as it came and Whitby recorded the win, 10-9.

On the road in Ottawa Sunday, a goal in the final three minutes of play broke a 4-4 deadlock, then the Titans capped that with an empty netter to seal the 6-4 final in their favour.

Tuesday night, Orangeville wrapped up their regular season on the road in Peterborough.

Things started off well for the Northmen with Gamble opening the scoring at 17:02.

The Lakers answered back with five of their own before Glen Bryan put one past Aaron Bold in the Peterborough net.

Through the second, Orangeville became a bit more focused on the game and settled down defensively. The two teams traded goals through the mid-frame with Anthony Lackey picking up one and Gamble, his second of the night to go into the third with the score 8-4.

Through the third,

Peterborough managed to hold off any Orangeville offensive efforts while adding another pair of goals to close out the scoring. With the 10-4 loss, Orangeville also fell back into sixth place in the standings.

After the game, Orangeville coach Matt Sawyer had no excuses for the Northmen efforts the past few games, but tried to put a positive spin on the results. "The playoffs are known as the second season," said Sawyer. "When all is said and done, that's what counts in the end".

He noted the lacklustre performance of a number of the team's key players who "are not performing to standards." Sawyer added that to achieve success in the playoffs, his veterans must step up their efforts and intensity to give the leadership they are going to need to win.

With the sixth place finish, Orangeville loses home advantage in the playoffs, and as a result will open on the road in St. Catharines against the A's this weekend. (Schedule yet to be determined at press time).