Thanks to the Burlington Chiefs, the Rayburn Construction Junior A Northmen found out on Monday night that the road to the top sometimes yields a few surprises.

And it was a surprise for many when Burlington made the most of an early lead and a supportive home crowd to defeat the Northmen 15-9.

From the opening draw, Burlington took the game to Orangeville, scoring within the first 20 seconds of play and adding two more before Brandon Ivey was able to get one back for the Northmen at 4:55.

Unrelenting on their attack, the Chiefs answered back less than a minute later with a pair of goals just 12 seconds apart.

They then added another two just before the 6:53 mark. Orangeville's defence seemed to settle down from that point on but they knew they had a tough battle ahead, a sentiment echoed after the game by Northmen coach Matt Sawyer after the game. "They had sticks in the first six minutes and anytime you fall down into a hole like that it is always tough to battle back especially against a strong team like this (Burlington)."

But to their credit, battle back they did.

Damon Edwards, playing in his second game with Orangeville since being traded from Toronto Beaches last week, teamed up with Jesse Gamble and Nick Rose at the half way point of the first period, while Burlington added one more to end the opening frame up 8-2

In the second, Northmen fortunes seemed to turn with hard work and determination. Andrew Suitor and Sean Gillies each counted for singles while John Quarrie chipped in a power-play marker with the help of Ivey to offset another pair by Burlington to head into the final 20 minutes of play trailing 10-5.

Orangeville stepped up the pace in the third, chipping away at Burlington's lead and drawing within two at 11-9 with 6:41 remaining.

Not wanting to let the Northmen juggernaut gather momentum, Burlington stole the wind from Orangeville's sails dropping three quick ones, one on the power-play and another empty netter at 16:06 to effectively put it away.

Jeremy Noble would score once more for Orangeville with Rose on the bench in favour of an extra attacker but Burlington came right back on the draw following that, dumping one into the still vacant net to finally seal of the score sheet with the 15- 9 final score.

The loss came on the heels of a lopsided 18-7 win over Kitchener Waterloo at home on Friday night.

In control from start to finish, the Northmen lead 8-1 after one period and 16-3 heading into the third where the Braves actually outscored their hosts 4- 2 but it was the home town favourites that recorded the two points for the win.

Orangeville was lead again by a solid performance from Adam Jones with four goals and one assist. Suitor, Gillies, Deron Dempster and Cody McMahon each tallied for two while Brad Gillies, Jordan Critch, Craig England, Quarrie and Noble wrapped it up scoring singles.

Yet again, the Northmen goaltending duo or Dillon Ward and Nick Rose were more than up to the challenge, sharing duty between the pipes to contribute in Orangeville's 15th win of the season.

Friday night promises to yet another big one as the long standing rivalry between the Northmen and Brampton Excelsiors takes to the floor of the Tony Rose at 8 p.m

That game will be followed on Sunday by a visit from Akwesasnae at 7 p.m.