For the 11th time, the Orangeville Northmen are OJLL champions. The Northmen defeated the Mimico Mountaineers in game seven of the OJLL Finals Sunday night by a score of 20-12.Â
Joey Spallina was officially credited with 7 goals and 6 assists, but by my count had 6 goals on the night. He was named the MVP of the playoffs after one of the best playoff seasons in recent memory. Liam Matthews had 5 goals (he was credited with 4), and Trey Deere finished with 3 goals and 10 assists for the Northmen.
It was a frustrating night to say the least for the Mountaineers, who came out with a 2-0 lead in the early minutes. A Dylan Sanderson goal stole some momentum back and it was mostly Northmen from there. The crucial run occurred, as it so often does for Orangeville, in the second period. Orangeville scored 10 goals in the period, including two shorthanded markers on the same Mimico power play.
It’s hard to analyze games like this. After an incredibly close series, this game just got away from the Mountaineers. I wrote yesterday that big games tend to be decided by goalie play, loose balls, and the ability to get to the middle on offence. Orangeville won all three phases.
The Northmen were ready for the moment, and more importantly they sensed that Mimico was on the ropes. All series long, the Northmen had difficulty separating from Mimico, who refused to go away.
In this one, Orangeville finally found the knockout punch that they needed. They left no doubt.
Spallina Makes History
I wrote about this earlier in the series, but Joey Spallina was on a historic pace in the playoff run. He will end the playoffs officially with 86 points in 13 games, on 40 goals and 46 assists. Since 2008 (the first year available on pointstreak), only one player has scored more.
Cody Jamieson had 46 goals in 2008 for the Six Nations Arrows, but needed 18 games (back then, all three series were seven games). Burlington’s Braedon Saris had 39 goals last year, so given the overcount in game seven, Spallina tied Saris’ historic run.
His 46 assists were the sixth most in a single playoff in that time frame as well. The 86 points were tied for the most alongside Johnny Powless from 2013, who played in three more games than Spallina.
In 29 combined games between the regular season and playoffs, Spallina had 80 goals and 122 assists. It’s hard to contextualize just how impressive it is that all this has been done by an American who played his first box lacrosse last year. By any measure, it has to be one of the great accomplishments in the sport.
He finished the night with the MVP award. While it may have been a crowded field at times in the finals, by the end there was only one choice.
End of an Era
For Mimico, the game represented the end of an era for the association. The team had eight graduates in the lineup last night, which included their top six goal scorers.
Finn Thomson should go down as the best player to wear the Mimico jersey. In 92 career games as a full-time player, he scored more than 500 points. He won the scoring title twice, and led the Mountaineers within one game of the Minto Cup.
Lucas Dudemaine grew up playing alongside Thomson, first for Mimico and again at St. Michael’s College School in high school. He enjoyed a breakout campaign this season, scoring 63 goals between the playoffs and regular season. His game three Overtime goal was one of the most important goals in Mimico’s young history.
Justin Lee, Isaiah Moran-Weekes, Mark Watters and Alex Roussel were under-rated cogs in an offensive machine that shined late in the season. They were the only team to reach the 10-goal threshold against the Northmen, accomplishing that task four times in the series.
Aiden Macdonell and Cole Begley were defensive leaders on a group that withstood injury and went toe-to-toe with an offensive unit in Orangeville that was as deep and talented as any in recent memory.
Sports can be cruel sometimes, and while this game gives lots, sometimes it takes too. Those eight players represented themselves and their organization incredibly well.
A Note on Adversity
On that note, I wanted to end with a note on adversity. The 2023 Northmen were one of the best OJLL teams of all time. They finished the regular season with a perfect record and seemed destined for a trip to Edmonton.
The Burlington Blaze came into Tony Rose and took it to the Northmen, beating them in six games. While the support for the Northmen in Orangeville is uncommon, that also leads to something that very few junior teams face: pressure.
Then, after an undefeated start to the playoffs, the Northmen found themselves suddenly in a legendary seven game battle. If some of the players had memories of last year, who could have blamed them?
But instead of folding, they did what so many Northmen teams have done. They relied on the home-crowd and protected the home floor at Tony Rose.
In the last two decades, more often than not, the road to the Minto has gone through that stretch of concrete. It was true again Sunday.
Once again, the Northmen are champions.