The long winter for the fans of the MacMaster Pontiac Buick GMC Junior B Northmen will come to an end this weekend when the team officially kicks off their 2010 season, hosting the Welland Warlords at the Tony Rose arena on Saturday night.

And a long winter it was for supporters of the Junior B squad who struggled through parts of 2009 and found their season cut shorter than usual, failing to make the playoffs after posting a 9-10-1 record in the highly competitive Western Conference Mid-West Division.

It was a season that Northmen head coach Blaine Burman is confident they won't be repeating.

With a solid core of returning veterans, Burman hopes everyone learned some valuable lessons from last year. “The veterans all play a big roll definitely. These are the guys that have to lead us, show maturity and leadership. They all now know they can't just sit back. As a veteran, you just can't take a night off especially in a tight division like ours where every point counts."

Orangeville was one of the last teams to actually start training camp and only has one actual game under their belt going into the 2010 season - an exhibition match versus Halton Hills last Saturday night at the Tony Rose.

Starting out strong on a goal by Dustin Caravello just over a minute into the game, Orangeville soon found themselves playing catch-up to a much more determined Bulldogs team.

Trailing by three with just 12 seconds left to play in the first James Sheppard cut the deficit in half with the help of Niall Caravello and Andrew Stoner.

Playing even through much of the second, the two squads traded not only punches but a pair of goals, the Northmen's coming off the stick of Zach Thompson to the short side making it 5-3 heading into the final frame.

Third period play though seemed to favour the Bulldogs more determined Bulldogs team.

Trailing by three with just 12 seconds left to play in the first James Sheppard cut the deficit in half with the help of Niall Caravello and Andrew Stoner.

Playing even through much of the second, the two squads traded not only punches but a pair of goals, the Northmen's coming off the stick of Zach Thompson to the short side making it 5-3 heading into the final frame.

Third period play though seemed to favour the Bulldogs who made the most of their chances, adding three more to the tally before Brandon Armstrong lugged the ball down the left side with 22 seconds remaining, lobbing one over the shoulder of Halton's goalie to make it 4-2 before the final buzzer.

Again, Burman was not sounding any alarms with the result of the game.

Acknowledging there were a few problems evident out on the floor, he was quick to point out that the team dressed a few young guys trying to crack the roster and that they are still awaiting the return of a number of players who are still away at school. The problems he saw were "correctable and with some tweaking, things are looking really good once the entire team gets back".

It won't be an easy or slow start back into play for the Northmen and those corrections were going to have to be made quickly as the team jumps into 2010 with thee tough games in their first week back.

First up is Welland who takes on the Northmen at 7 p.m. on Saturday in the Tony Rose. Sunday evening, Orangeville makes the trip down Highway 6 for an 8 p.m. start against division rival Guelph Royals then its back home on Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. contest