Northmen earn berth in Minto final

NORTHMEN JEREMY NOBLE scoops up a loose ball in Minto Cup action against the Coquitam Adanacs on Saturday night at the Powerade Centre in Brampton. Photo/MIKE MALONEY The stage has been set and the Rayburn Construction Northmen who are now just two wins away from their second consecutive Canadian Junior A lacrosse championship.

Saturday night, the Northmen kicked off the defense of the Minto Cup title at the Powerade Centre in Brampton with a convincing 16-8 win over the Coquitlam Adanacs.

Looking for an early edge, Coquitlam managed to open the scoring early on an unassisted marker from Robert Church at 2:21. What some would see as an advantage quickly disappeared as the goal only brought the Northmen offence to life.

John Quarrie came back 30 seconds later for Orangeville, scoring his first of three on the night followed in succession by Adam Jones, Cody McMahon and Damon Edwards.

Undaunted, the Adanacs battled back to within one in the bottom half of the first period only to have McMahon again find the range, this time on the powerplay assisted by Jones and Brandon Ivey with 13 seconds remaining in the first.

In the second, Orangeville continued to pour it on. Both Jeremy Noble and Jones scored a pair and Quarrie chipped in his second, while Coquitlam could only counter with three of their own sending the two squads in to the third with the score 10- 6 for Orangeville.

Again in the third, the B.C. champions stuck first with Ben McIntosh scoring at 6:50. And again, just like the first period, it didn't take long for Orangeville to answer back with a quick goal, this one unassisted by Matt McLeod off the draw 15 seconds later. Ivey and Quarrie followed with Glen Bryan and Andrew Suitor leaving their mark before McIntosh snuck one more past Orangeville's Nick Rose.

Playing shorthanded in the final minute,McLeod would get the last word for Orangeville, taking a pass in alone from Noble to seal off the scoreboard at 16-8 in favour of the Northmen to take game one of the round- robin.

Game two on Sunday was the much anticipated re-match between Brampton and Orangeville.

Picking up where they had left off just a week before, the Northmen took control early and never looked back.

26 seconds into the game Quarrie teamed up with Ivey to open the scoring. Greg Harnett followed next with his first of the tournament at 9:12 and Edwards and McLeod rounded out the first frame with singles to send the teams into the first intermission with Orangeville holding a 4-0 lead.

Second period action saw a more robust effort on the part of Brampton with both teams adding three to the tally. Scott Tinning, Dylan Evans and Michael Burke found the range for Brampton while three familiar faces to Excelsiors goalie Steve Fryer — McLeod, Jones and Noble — countered with goals for Orangeville.

In the third, Brampton managed to

narrow the gap to within three, bookending Ivey's unassisted powerplay goal at 8:01. Yet Rose and the Orangeville defence shut down Brampton's offence from that point on, earning the Northmen a 8-5 victory.

With a berth in the final almost guaranteed, Orangeville took the opportunity to rest a few players and to give Dylan Ward a shot between the pipes when they took to the floor Tuesday night against Edmonton.

Needing a win to stay in the tournament, Edmonton threw everything they had at the Northmen.

With Edmonton up 2- 0 early in the frame, the Northmen were in the unusual position of having to battle back, which they managed to do thanks to goals from Jordan Critch, Jesse Gamble and Jones to end the period tied at 3- 3.

Over the next two periods, Orangeville would pull away from the Eclipse, going up 10-7 on goals from Mike Teeter, Critch, Ivey Suitor and Jones with 13 minutes left to play.

Undaunted, Edmonton kept the fans in their seats and the Northmen honest, scoring twice more to draw back within one with five minutes left in regulation time.

That would be all they could manage as Orangeville hung on to win 10-9.

With the win, Orangeville finished first in the round robin portion of the tournament and, in doing so, earned themselves a bye to the finals to be played this weekend.

Their opponent will either be Coquitlam or Brampton who will face each other one more time in a semi-final game to be played Wednesday night (results unavailable at press-time).

Game one of the best of three final is slated for 8 p.m. Friday night at the Powerade Centre with game two scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday. If a game three is required, it will be played Sunday evening with the opening draw scheduled for 7 p.m.