Northmen Sweep, Mountaineers Advance to OJLL Finals

The Mimico Mountaineers and Orangeville Northmen punched their tickets to the OJLL finals on Saturday night. The Northmen finished off the sweep of the St. Catharines Athletics, and Mimico won their third straight game to come back from a 1-0 deficit and take the series three games to one. 

I will have a full preview of the final series on Wednesday morning, but for now I will focus on the past series. For those wondering, the OJLL finals will begin Wednesday July 31 at Tony Rose arena. I will have the call for every game on Youtube for the OJLL. 

Let’s get into some of the keys from the semi-finals. 

Depth Scoring 

In the Peterborough Series, the Mountaineers got goals from 11 different players. Keep in mind that clubs can only dress 18 runners in a game, so Mimico got goals from more than half of their players. 

Several of those goals came from players who don’t compete full-time on offence. Justin Tavares was arguably the MVP of the series, finishing with 7 goals and 3 assists in the four games. Tavares plays mostly out the back-door, so that kind of production was impressive. He also had one of the most impressive bounce passes that I have ever seen which led to a Finn Thomson goal in game four.

But he wasn’t the only defensive player joining the scoring. Jordan Vincent had three goals, Nicholas Volkov had one, Aiden Macdonell had one, and his brother Angus Macdonell had five. Angus plays a lot out of each door, so his goals should be considered only partially as offensive ones. 

Peterborough actually got contributions from 11 different scorers as well, but the defensive production was not the same. Even not counting Angus Macdonell’s stats, Mimico got 12 goals from defensive personnel. Peterborough got just 6. 

Here is an example of the types of goals that Mimico was scoring. On this shift, both Tavares and Macdonell were playing defence and sprinted up the floor. Even in scenarios like this, which are not obvious advantages, Tavares knows he has the green light to make a play. Macdonell catches it in stride and buries it.

In the playoffs generally, Mimico has four players with 10 or more goals. For reference, Oramgeville has only two, albeit in one less game. 

Orangeville has shown the ability to key in on marquee players (i.e in the Beaches series), so Mimico will need this kind of production to continue. 

Home Floor Advantage 

On Saturday night in Mimico, the home-crowd made a difference in the game. During a second-period run for the Mountaineers, the fans erupted after a string of Mimico goals. 

Here is an example that was tweeted out by Mimico, which shows the juice that the team got from the goal. After Isaiah Moran-Weekes scored on a wild turnover, nearly the whole Mimico bench went to celebrate. 

There is no doubt that the crowd and the intense atmosphere (along with incredibly hot temperatures) played a role in Mimico’s success. They will need to carry that into the Finals. 

O’Toole On Excellent Pace, But Not Historic 

Connor O’Toole and the Northmen have been on a crazy run during these playoffs. O’Toole has not allowed more than 8 goals in these playoffs, and is currently sporting a 6.47 Goals Against Average. 

When I first read that number, I assumed it must have been one of the best in recent memory. It’s certainly up there, but it’s more notable that he is putting his name alongside some recent legends. O’Toole’s number would be the lowest since 2019. 

In 2023, Deacon Knott was the story of the playoffs, backstopping the Burlington Blaze all the way to a Minto Cup. He finished with a 8.34 GAA. 

In 2022, the Whitby Warriors split their duties, limiting the sample size for both. Liam Wright had a 6.97 GAA, while Kaleb Martin ended with an 8.93 mark. Martin played both games of the final series. 

Rylan Hartley was the MVP of the playoffs in 2019 and had a 6.22 GAA in 13 games. He is now coaching O’Toole. 

Then going back a few more years, Steven Orleman had 6.50 in 2018 for Brampton, Doug Jamieson had 5.11 in 2017, and Nolan Clayton had a 7.10 in 2016. Jamieson had another ridiculous 5.92 

In an era of streaming, many OJLL fans have gotten to see just how well O’Toole has played in this series. That just puts it into context how remarkable Hartley, Jamieson, and others were at their peak. 

That’s all the thoughts I have for now. Stay tuned to LCD for the rest of the week to keep track of all our box lacrosse coverage.