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It’s turned into one of the more heated series the Jr. A game has seen in recent years, the Orangeville Northmen and Brampton Excelsiors, the two teams that are just hours away from going head-to-head at this year’s Minto Cup final (best of three series).

The two OLA reps have already battled each other this year a total of ten times, twice during the regular season, a full seven game Ontario final war of a series, and once during round robin play earlier this week (Northmen lead the ‘09 season series 6-3-1).

After the jump, check out who’ll need to do what to pull out the W’s this weekend, who excelled and who was contained in their ten previous games this year, and more on the ‘09 Minto Cup Final.

GOALIES

Although both starting tenders have done well this year (actually incredibly well), Orangeville’s Nick Rose and Brampton’s Steve Fryer, both up for tender of the year in this year’s JOTY’s, there isn’t a whole lot of similarities past their ‘09 success. Rose is just a few games away from closing up an incredibly stacked Jr. A career, currently also playing behind Anthony Cosmo and Mike Poulin in Boston, while Fryer jumped into the Jr. A full-time pool for the first time this summer, also up for rookie of the year. Previous to making the jump to the Excels, Fryer guarded the cage for the Jr. B Mimico Mountaineers, sharing minutes with current Brampton backup Tyler Carlson throughout this year’s regular season, but proving he could easily handle the heavier Jr. A load from start to finish. The two starters also play a pretty different style between the pipes, Rose playing his angles well and making clutch saves that just can’t be taught, and the much smaller, younger Fryer playing a more athletic brand of lacrosse, also pretty equally clutch.

Edge: Rose gets the edge cuz of experience and his outta left field money play

DEFENSE

Again, equally as effective, but some major differences in how both get the job done. The Northmen are one of the quickest, up tempo, constant press D’s the junior game has seen in a number of years. They’re athletic, skilled and even though they might be smaller than the Excels D guys, they aren’t afraid to mix it up either. Led by the likes of breakout NLL rookie Jon Harnett, smash mouth warrior Andrew Suitor and thoroughbred stud Damon Edwards, the Northmen’s D don’t give the opposition much time with the ball in their pocket. Although Brampton’s D is also full of great pure athletes, it’s no secret these guy’s main objective is to try and beat the sh** out of anyone in their zone with a different sweater on, the Excels holding down this summer’s biggest, bruising D line anywhere in the country. Captain Kyle Rubisch, Ben McCullough and Chris Corbeil lead this meat and potatoes, sandpaper defensive unit, who did hold Orangeville’s O in check during a lot of their OLA final series.

Edge: Brampton if we’re talking pure D, but definitely Orangeville for their transition, explosive D. Gotta be a draw.

OFFENSE

This is where this series will be decided. The keeps are pretty even and both D’s are top shelf for different reasons, but if you look at why they’ve lost against one another this year, there has almost always been one O that has been handcuffed, frustrated for large stretches. Whatever offense can find an answer and keep the momentum flowing, will likely be the team lifting the Minto, especially in this short best of three series.

Brampton’s Andrew Potter, who led all of Canada in scoring this year, has actually been kept relatively quiet by Orangeville in their meetings this year. Potter, who averaged close to six points per game during the regular season with Brampton and St. Catharines, and then an equally impressive 3.5 points during the playoffs, has averaged just 2 points per against Orangeville while in an Excels sweater, the Northmen doing a solid job or keeping the Colorado Mammoth’s prospect in the background. The guy that’s really been able to get to the Northmen is actually rookie Michael Burke, whose 26 points against Orangeville this year is the most anyone in the nation has pumped in against them. Burke is also the guy that scored that third period marker during the regular season to take the Northmen to OT, scoring the game winner in Game 2 in their OLA series and assisting on the other two game winners in that series as well. The Excels will need consistent production for their secondary O, especially if Potter gets isolated like he has against Orangeville at times this year. Look for Rochester Knighthawks’ prospect and Halton Hills Bulldogs scorer Pat Saunders and post-season clutch scorer Ryan McClelland to give them that extra push on O.

Orangeville’s forwards, who were completely shut down in their first three games in the Ontario final series, averaged just 4.7 goals in the 3 L’s after averaging almost 14 goals per game during the regular season, ended up showing how resilient and versatile they were when they buried 37 over the next four games in the series, pumping up that goals per game average by five markers. The Northmen’s secondary pure O guys have produce at around the same level as Brampton’s, but that’s without including the goals O’Ville gets straight off the press, which not many teams have had an answer for this year, especially not over a full 60 minutes of lacrosse. Look out for under ager Cody McMahon, who’s looked very solid this season, and has also shown how clutch he’ll likely be during his Jr. A career, scoring the Game 6 winner against the Excels, and assisting on the winner in Minto round robin play against Brampton too. Also look for the seldom hyped Brandon Ivey to continue giving Orangeville some extra pop on O behind their big three, Adam Jones, Mat MacLeod and Jeremy Noble.

Edge: The Northmen have already responded to Brampton’s smash mouth D (proof… four straight post-season W’s and increased O production), the Excels need to turn up the heat if they wanna take the gold (big names need to put up big numbers).

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HEAD TO HEAD NUMBERS

Check out who did what during the ten games Orangeville and Brampton have already played against one another…

THE GAMES

The best of three final kicks off on Friday night…

Game 1 Friday August 28 8PM EST
Game 2 Saturday August 29 8PM EST
Game 3 (if necessary) Sunday August 30 7PM EST

All games at the Powerade Centre, click here for directions

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