When your number one, it does not take long to realize that everyone is gunning for you. After a close call against Six Nations on Friday night, the Rayburn Construction Junior A Northmen found that out for certain as any hopes of perfect 22-0 regular season record were dashed on the floor of the Iroquois Park arena Tuesday night, dropping a 7-3 decision to the Whitby Warriors.

Heading into Tuesday nights game, the Northmen had added 9-8 and 13-wins over Six Nations and Toronto Beaches respectively this past weekend to put them 15-0 heading into Whitby.

Playing Friday night at home to the Arrows, Orangeville came out of the gate flying building up a 5-0 lead before allowing Six Nations onto the scoreboard late in the first.

Leading 6-1 to start the second Orangeville got a bit of a wake up call when the Arrows scored five unanswered markers to tie it up nearing the midway point.

Mike Teeter and Cody McMahon would give Orangeville some breathing room for a bit but the Arrows kept coming back and again tied the score just over two minutes into the third before Pat Saunders would team up with Deron Dempster to score his fourth of the game and what would prove to be the game winner three minutes later.

Other goal scorers for Orangeville included Jason Noble and Andrew Suitor while McMahon chipped in for two.

Sunday night it was a case of deja vu for the three newest Northmen acquisitions – Daniel Harnett, Reid Acton and Robert Kroger – as they and the Northmen hosted Toronto Beaches.

After giving up three early first period goal to Toronto, Orangeville roared back with a vengeance to take a 4-3 lead in the final seconds of the opening frame before continuing on to a 13-6 decision at the final buzzer.

Again Saunders lead the way for Orangeville with three with Teeter and Brandon Ivey each notching a pair. Singles by Tyler McCarthy, Brad Gillies, Jordan Critch, Brandon Benn, Andre Laleune and Suitor rounded out the Northmen scoring.

But it was Tuesday night against where the Northmen finally paid the price for some less than inspired efforts on the floor.

Up 1-0 on an early goal by Kroger, the Northmen soon found themselves put on notice by the Warriors, this wasn't going to be another cake walk as they collected a pair, ending the first period leading 2-1.

Blair Goss teamed up with Teeter and Noble early in the second frame to even the score once again but from that point on it was all Whitby.

Trailing 4-2 with only seconds remaining in the second and control of the ball, Orangeville opted to pull Dillon Ward in favour of the extra attacker looking to narrow the margin only to have Warriors Chad Tutton pick off a sloppy Northmen pass and feeding it to John Lafontaine who ran the ball down the floor and dropped it in Orangeville's net to go up 5-3.

Off the top of three, Whitby cashed in two more - another on an empty net break away before Ivey would score once for Orangeville with a minute left on the clock making it 7-3 where the score would remain, earning Whitby the win.

Speaking after the game, Northmen assistant coach Phil Sanderson was quite blunt with his appraisal of Tuesday night’s game. When asked if he was surprised by the result he said simply, "Nope, Our guys took it for granted. They obviously wanted this game more than us in every aspect and the end result was a loss for us."

The Northmen however will have to be quick shaking off the loss and getting back to business as there are no breaks ahead in their schedule. Wednesday night they make the trip east again, this time to Peterborough (results unavailable at presstime) before stopping in at the Powerade Centre on Friday night for their first clash with the Brampton Excelsiors since defeating them in the Minto Cup final last season.

After that, Orangeville will have a chance to set the record straight with Whitby when the Warriors come to on Sunday night for a 7 p.m. start against the Northmen at the Tony Rose arena.