DEFENSIVE STALWARTS Matt Noble and Robbie Koekkoek will be two of the lynchpins in the Northmen B lineup when the team kicks off their 2006 lacrosse campagin this weekend. Mike Maloney/Orangeville Citizen File Photo For fans of the Orangeville Junior Northmen franchises, the long winter wait will finally be over when the Northmen B squad officially kicks off their 2007 season this weekend.

Starting on the road, the team will travel to Six Nations on Friday night for a rendezvous with the Rebels then return home on Monday night to the Tony Rose Memorial Sports Complex and a game against Owen Sound.

For the Orangeville coaching staff, hopes are that they will have a better start than they did during pre-season tournament play in Elora last weekend.

Getting off to a slow start against the Mohawks in their opening game, Orangeville gave up six first period goals to a much improved Elora team in what would end in a 10-2 win for the tournament hosts.

Dropping their second match to Owen Sound by a 9-2 score, things finally started to gel for this still young squad in their final game of the afternoon where they double up 8-4 over Windsor.

For Northmen coach Blaine Burman, while a disappointment to have lost the first two games, he is encouraged by what he saw from the team as the day went on.

"We obviously got off to a slow start", said Burman. "You have to remember for the majority of the players on the floor Saturday, it was their first Junior B outing. For the coaching staff, it was a great opportunity to evaluate the rookie players."

He went on to add that it was obvious as the day went on there was improvement with each shift, "the guy's listened to what we said and went out and did what we asked."

When the team hits the floor Friday night in the Nations, Burman and his assistant coaches Brandon Sanderson and Ryan Emilio will be counting on leadership coming from the returning veterans.

While the speed and enthusiasm of the rookies will more than make up for inexperience at the start of the season, it will be the teams defensive strengths that they will be counting on to offset any early offensive shortcomings they may have.

Over on the A side of the Northmen Junior ledger, coach Matt Sawyer says it is still too early to make any predictions on the season ahead.

With between eight and ten rookies expected to crack the lineup this year, Sawyer is on the hunt for players with a willingness to work and learn and who are committed to winning.

"I am really excited. There is going to be a lot of new bodies around here and by the looks of things, we are going to have a fast, skilled team this season" said Sawyer.

With the Junior A start still weeks away, both he and general manager Bob Clevely are in no hurry to lock into a lineup quite yet.

"We have a good group stepping up from the B's this year," says Clevely.

He notes the experience guys like Jay Card and Nick Rose earned playing in the B loop last season are great character builders.

While the majority of the squad will be made up with players who have graduated through the Northmen organization, he and Sawyer want have a look a few other players.

In particular they will be watching Adam Leroy who spent the last three years playing B in Guelph and Craig England from Fergus who they picked up in the draft.

While England has signed to play B lacrosse this season in Elora, injuries which will keep Jeff Ivey and DJ Clevely out of the lineup for a month or two yet, will give the Northmen coaching staff a chance to call him up to play in the A league for a few games.