ORANGEVILLE NORTHMEN Brandon Ivey is caught in the middle during the first tournament game against the Coquitlam Adanacs. photo/KEVIN HILL/ Coquitlam NOW The Rayburn Construction Junior A Northmen are done for the season.

The squad lost in the final round of the national Minto Cup junior lacrosse championships in Coquitlam, British Columbia after dropping two games in a best of three series against the host team.

The tournament featured the four best Junior A teams in the country including two teams from BC, one from Alberta, and the Northmen representing Ontario.

The Northmen earned their spot to vie for the Minto Cup after a stellar year that saw them go 22- 1 in the regular season before winning the Ontario championship in a four game sweep over the Six Nations Arrows.

The national tournament started out strong for the Orangeville squad winning their first game 9- 3 over the New W e s t m i n s t eSalmonbellies on August 21.

They played the following night against the Okotoks Raiders delivering a 7-3 win.

The Raiders lost their third game of the tournament and were knocked out of contention.

It was the Northmen’s third game that put them in a tough spot when they faced the Coquitlam Adanacs for the first time and lost that game 15-12.

The Adanacs finished in first place in the BC Junior A Lacrosse League posting 19 wins and one tie over 21 regular season games.

They went on to win the league championship losing only one game in the post season before setting out to de-throne the defending Minto Cup champions.

The loss forced the Orangeville team into a single playoff game with New Westminster - the winner of that game earning the right to go to the final against Coquitlam.

But the Northmen stayed focused and knocked the Salmonbellies out of the tournament with a 6-4 win on Wednesday.

That led to the showdown between the defending champion Northmen and the host team Coquitlam.

The first game of the best of three final series had a close first period with Orangeville leading by one.

But the second and third frames saw the host team break away scoring five in the two periods and shutting out the Northmen for the duration.

The second game of the series had all the pressure placed on the Northmen to get back in the series and force a third and final match-up.

After a first goal by Brock Sorensen to light up the scoreboard on the Orangeville side, the Adanacs scored two in the first period and another early in the second for the lead.

The Northmen rebounded in the second with goals by Rob Hellyer and Jeremy Noble, and another in the third by Noble, but the Coquitlam squad responded with three more in the third period to take the game and the Minto Cup championship.

It was a sweet victory for the Coquitlam team to be able to win the championship in their arena.

Though losing in the final is never the way any team wants to go out, you can’t ignore the Northmen's success.

Two Minto Cups, and a national final in three years speaks for the consistency of the team and the quality of players, coaches, and management that took them right to the end.