By Brian Lockhart

The Orangeville Junior C Northmen headed into their Saturday, June 10, game against the first-place Wilmot Wild to gauge their ability to compete for another Meredith Cup championship. They came up with a solid game at both ends of the floor.

Luke Downard's two-goal, three-assist night paced the Northmen attack.

Wilmot opened the scoring just 2:30 into the game. Downard scored two goals in the middle of the period to send Orangeville into the first intermission with a slim 2-1 lead.

Camden McGuire built on the lead with an unassisted goal on a delayed penalty in the second.

Wilmot battled back to tie the game with a pair of goals – the second one on a short-handed effort with 45 seconds left in the period.

Zack Dorval restored the Northmen's momentum with a power-play goal with three seconds left on the clock.

The game was tied at four early in the third period.

Blake Martin-King scored the eventual game-winning goal at 4:47 into the final frame.

Orangeville goalie Jacob Hand and the defence shut down the Wilmot offence for the rest of the game.

Hand stopped 29 of 33 shots.

Jack Fitzpatrick added a couple of power-play goals for the Northmen, and the Orangeville squad left the floor with a 7-4 win.

The Junior C Northmen will be back in action at Tony Rose Arena on Saturday, June 17, to host the Fergus Thistles.

Game time is 3 p.m.