The junior A Nanaimo Timbermen were able to address a lot of their needs on draft day.
The club hosted the B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League Draft on Saturday at the Bowen Park activity centre and were the busiest team there, making 12 selections.
“It went really well for us,” said Dave Bremner, coach and general manager of the junior A Timbermen. “We got most of the players that we wanted. We were happy.”
The first overall pick in the draft was Dylan McCormick, chosen by the New Westminster Salmonbellies, and Nanaimo’s top selection came in the second round, 10th overall. The T-men selected goaltender Colin Jeffrey from the Cowichan Valley.
“He has shown so much promise, a big, strong goalie…” Bremner said. “We’re really excited about his potential to grow into a No. 1 goalie.”
Jeffrey said he’s “really excited” to join the Timbermen and is anticipating a really good year. He is familiar with the organization, as he helped out last year as a call-up, and looks forward to competing at higher levels of lacrosse.
“It’ll take a little bit to get used to at the start, but hopefully it’ll be a good transition with that,” Jeffrey said. “Obviously it’ll be a bit faster pace and stuff like that, but I’m looking forward to it.”
Nanaimo had three other second-round selections and chose forward Geoff Ward and defender Mason McAdams, both from Saanich, at 12th and 13th, respectively, and then forward Will Cookman of Nanaimo at 16th.
Bremner said Ward is skilled and smart with great floor sense and said McAdams is big and strong but can also run the floor. Cookman, the coach said, is a blend of everything, with speed, size, skill and a left-handed shot.
“I’m pretty happy to be part of Nanaimo and hopefully we can go out there and get the team going, get some wins, do good this season,” said Cookman.
The Timbermen also chose Ari Stevens, Drew MacFadyen, Nathan Clark, Gavin Spencer, Sam Zeisberger, Graeme Getty, Hank Wulder, and Nanaimo’s Aidan Cateaux.
Bremner said the Timbermen were able to add athletic guys who will be able to play the style the team wants to play.
“Every player coming into the draft and coming into intermediate and junior A, they’ve got lots to learn and we’ve got a great coaching staff with us right now and they’re going to teach them a ton,” Bremner said.
Cookman said the junior Timbermen are going the right way and are positioned to “start kicking it up a notch,” and Jeffrey agrees.
“They’ve been making some good changes over the past couple years, so I think that the only way it’s going to go is up,” he said. “Hopefully in the next few years it will improve and I really think it will.”
sports@nanaimobulletin.com
