NORTHMEN B captain Frank Collins finds himself about to get all wrapped up by the London defender in Junior B lacrosse action at the Tony Rose Memorial Sports Complex this past weekend. Photo/MIKE MALONEY Orangeville's Junior B lacrosse squad put the breaks on a three game skid this past weekend as the MacMaster Pontiac Buick GMC Northmen put together a couple of solid performances to take 10-5 and 9-5 wins over London and Elora respectively.

With the playoffs on the horizon, the Northmen were in need of a win after posting a pair of back-to-back losses to Owen Sound last week.

Hosting London at home Saturday, Orangeville got off to a quick start against the Blue Devils when Graham Bryan opened the scoring with his unassisted goal just over a minute into the game. Dustin Caravello made it 2-0 just 22 seconds later with assists from Ace McNutt and Greg Mocelli.

London hammered back with two of their own to tie the score by the 12:34 mark only to have Caravello twist the twine on the power-play with two seconds left to play in the first period.

Off the top of two, the tit-for-tat continued as London got to Curtis Rydall for a pair to take what would be a shortlived lead for the Blue Knights.

Needing some inspiration, the Northmen veterans stepped up and showed the way.

Jake Thompson fed a perfect pass down the floor to Frankie Collins coming off the back door at 9:17 to even it back up at 4-4 before McNutt slide a sidearm shot to the bottom corner of the London goal after making his way out from behind the London net.

Driving down the lane through traffic, it was McNutt again, this time taking a pass from Mocelli to make it 6-4 in favour of Orangeville heading into the final 20 minutes of regulation time.

London scored early in the third to draw within striking distance, only to have the Northmen again turn up the heat.

Scoring his third of four, Caravello bounced a perfect shot to five hole on the powerplay— followed by Andrew Stoner with his first of the night and Collins with his second— before wrapping up the scoring at 14:02 where the score would remain until the final buzzer sounded on a 10- 5 Northmen victory.

For Orangeville coach Blair Burman, the win was a great way to get things back on track after dropping their last three games.

Admitting his guys were a little flat to start the game after coming off two tough losses to Owen Sound, they finally found some confidence and got the ball rolling in the second. Overall as a team, he noted, there were a lot of positives shown out there on the floor. Heading down the stretch run into the playoffs, he noted the added importance of the next two weeks, in particular, four divisional games split between Guelph and Elora.

And the first of those games happened on Monday night when the Mohawks came to town.

Elora would be first on the board when Kyle Goss tucked one past Rydall at 4:28 of the opening frame but it would not be long until Orangeville stepped up their assault at the other end of the rink.

Duncan Shaw got the ball rolling, taking advantage of the extra attacker on a delayed penalty call, before Stoner, Thompson, Steven Rogers and Caravello added their own to the tally.

Off the top of two, the Northmen kept up the pace with Kyle Kallay scoring , followed by Collins' first and Caravello's second to make it 8-1 before Elora could again find the range.

Collins added another to wrap up the scoring for Orangeville with 2:58 remaining in the second. Elora kept things interesting with one more in the second and a pair in the third but that was all the offence they could muster with Rydall shutting down the Mohawk shooters to earn the Northmen a 9-5 win.

Action returns to the Tony Rose on Monday with the second of two games remaining against the Guelph Regals ( first played Wednesday June 10, results unavailable at press time) before wrapping up the regular season in Elora on Sunday June 21.