The two best words in sports: Game Seven.
That is what will be in store Sunday night at Tony Rose Arena, when the Mimico Mountaineers will make the now very familiar trip up Highway 10 to play the Orangeville Northmen. The winner will win the Iroqouis trophy, and a berth in the Minto Cup.
The storylines for this game write themselves. The last time there was a game seven to decide the OJLL finals was exactly 11 years ago today. On Sunday, August 11, 2013, Michael MacDonald scored twice in the last four minutes to secure a 9-8 victory for the Whitby Warriors over the Six Nations Arrows.Â
On the line tonight is a trip to the Minto Cup, but more importantly a shot at local immortality. In Mimico and Orangeville, the players tonight will have a chance to cement their place amongst the legends of their communities.
For Orangeville, this is a familiar position. The Northmen won the Iroqouis trophy in 1993, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2016, and 2019.
Mimico is looking for their first Ontario Championship since re-joining the league as an expansion franchise in 2015. The Mountaineers franchise won the trophy in 1938, 1946 (the first year the trophy was awarded after a break for World War II), and 1951.
Both these teams have faced difficult playoff setbacks in the past few years. Last year’s Northmen finished a remarkable undefeated season, only to be beat by the Burlington Blaze in six games during the OJLL finals.
The 2022 Mountaineers finished first in the regular season, but lost an improbable first round series to Burlington, becoming one of the few one-seeds to ever lose in the first round.
This series has had plenty of drama on its own. After a solid two-game opening stretch for Orangeville, game three went to Overtime. Lucas Dudemaine scored one of the biggest goals in Mimico history to get the series back to 2-1.
Had that overtime gone differently, how differently might this series have looked?
That momentum boost gave Mimico the juice they needed for a relatively (given the margins in this series) lopsided win. Orangeville responded with a resounding defensive effort in the fifth game. Mimico punched back last night.
As for keys to the game, there are some to monitor. Mimico must improve their transition play on breakouts, and Orangeville must continue to use their press defence to create havoc. On the other side of the ball, Mimico had a lot of success in game four by using slip picks to create isolations opportunities for their biggest offensive players. Orangeville must communicate those situations and be more prepared to help.
But frankly, none of those nuances seem to matter in such an important game. This game will be dictated by the three most important aspects of this great sport.
Who gets better goalie play?
Who can get to the middle on offence?
Who can win more loose balls?
That’s what I’ll be watching tonight. It’s going to be a legendary night at Tony Rose.
I’ll be on the call for the OJLL. If you can’t make it to the building, we will have you covered.