Tony Rose arena sits at 6 Northmen Way, and has long been considered the hub of the Orangeville Lacrosse Community. This weekend, that hub will shift ever so slightly, up the street to the Orangeville Opera House, where a documentary will debut which covers the history of lacrosse in the town.
That film, aptly named, is called The Northmen Way.
It is a play on words that describes both the legendary culture that has propelled the Northmen to success and the street which hosts the arena that has become such a proving grounds for Ontario lacrosse players. Created by brothers Zack and Jake Thompson, who themselves are lifetime Northmen players, the documentary has been more than three years in the making.
“The sense of accomplishment to have done this with Jake is pretty powerful,” said Zack Thompson. “A lot of gratitude with all the people that helped us get to this point is the overwhelming feeling of it, and a bit of relief, I’m not going to lie.”
The documentary will screen several times throughout the weekend, with the first one being last night, Thursday July 3rd. All showings will be at the Orangeville Opera House, and the screenings will coincide with Northmen alumni weekend. Tickets can be found here and showings will take place Thursday, Friday, twice Saturday and Sunday.
The documentary follows the beginning of the Northmen organization in the 1970’s and the path from there to the perennial powerhouse it is now. Thompson said that while he obviously knew of the history, he was blown away at the work that actually went into building the organization.
“It wasn’t an accident,” said Thompson. “They had a goal. They wanted to see the Northmen succeed to a certain level… To put Orangeville on the map is something I heard them say through the decades.”
Orangeville won their first Irqouois trophy as OJLL champions in 1993, and won again in 1995 and 1996, kicking off a three-decade run of dominance. They were Ontario champions again in 2000, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2019 and 2024. Of those 11 champions, seven of them went on the win the Minto Cup.
This year’s team is looking to add themselves to that list. They are currently in first place in the OJLL standings with a 15-2 overall record and a league best 7.2 Goals Against Average. The current Northmen team will take on second place Six Nations on Friday as part of the alumni weekend activities.
The current team is led by Rusty Kruger, a name synonymous with the Northmen Organization. Kruger was a part of those championship teams in the 1990’s, and has been a coach on several Minto Cup and Ontario Champion Northmen teams.
Kruger said he can’t wait to see the documentary.
“I’m just really happy for (the Thompsons) and for the Town of Orangeville. And all the alumni that have been involved, whether it’s a volunteer, player, coach or even a fan. I think it’s going to be awesome to see this story,” said Kruger.
There is perhaps no clearer demonstration of “The Northmen Way,” than Kruger and his son Max. Just in his rookie season, Max is currently sitting tenth in league scoring with 30 goals and 38 assists in 17 games. Growing up, Max was a ballboy for Northmen teams that his dad coached, and now he is following in the footsteps of so many Northmen greats before him.
“Obviously Orangeville is a historic organization,” said Max. “Every player who came before us has paved the way for what we have today.”
Though he doesn’t put any on his son, Rusty understands the pressure that might be facing Max.
“He probably feels like he has some expectations or that, but he’s far exceeded anything I did my first year. So he’s going to build his own legacy,” said Rusty.
For his part, Max was quick to defer to his teammates.
“All my teammates have been pushing me to be better,” said Max. “I owe so much of my success to my teammates.”
It can be intimidating to try and tell such a vital story to the community, but the Thompson brothers decided to trust their gut and make the film in a way that they would enjoy. One of the biggest challenges was pouring over hundreds of hours of archival footage.
The brothers actually hired an archival researcher to help with some of this discovery, but the majority came from VHS tapes, DVDs and other forms of footage that community members had in their possession.
“Guys showed up with garbage bags full of old VHS’s and some were more organized than others,” laughed Thompson. “Some were just 10 VHS tapes of taped over movies, so we kind of had to go through the process of checking everything to find the needle in the haystack.”
A feature length film of this magnitude will always leave a few things on the cutting room floor, and this one was no exception.
“We had to keep it kind of surface level at times,” said Thompson, adding that they conducted group interviews with members of championship teams. “There were some awesome stories that just, if we could sit on them for seven minutes and let them kind of talk through and just forget the camera is there, I really wish we could have fit that in.”
One story that did make it in was the legendary 1995 Minto Cup, which featured a famous brawl at Tony Rose between the Northmen and the New Westminster Salmonbellies.
“That’s probably the one easy question you have given me,” said Thompson when asked about the craziest fight story. “Fortunately we have footage of that game… later in the game, somebody grabs someone and there is a fight. Fifteen seconds later it was just a full on bench brawl, the cops were on the floor, there were fans fighting in one corner.”
Rusty Kruger was on the floor when it broke out, ending the 1995 Minto Cup with 6 goals, 3 assists and 29 penalty minutes in four games.
“I was on the floor and it just kind of escalated,” said Kruger. “I saw somebody grab Josh (Sanderson) and it was just kind of instinct to run into the pile, so that’s how I was involved in it. I don’t really remember much of it.”
Even despite missing time in the penalty box, Rusty was named the MVP of the 1995 Minto Cup, cementing his legacy as one of the greatest players in Northmen history.
Fast forward a few years and the Sanderson name still appears beside Kruger, though none have been involved in a bench clearing brawl. Josh’s sons Cam and Dylan play the same side of the offence as the younger Kruger and all three serve as testaments to the tradition and player development that have made Orangeville successful.
But on a weekend that is about honouring the past, it’s the current players that have to make their mark.
“It’s their night to enjoy,” said Rusty. “For some it will be their first alumni night (and their first chance) to leave their own legacy… the biggest thing is to go enjoy it. This is their time.”