The reigning WLA champion Maple Ridge Burrards took the best player available in the Western Lacrosse Association draft, but now the future star is telling his new team he won’t report.
The Burrards took Marshal King with their fourth overall pick, just ahead of the Island teams Nanaimo Timbermen and Victoria Shamrocks.
King is a Victoria native, who said that’s where he wants to play.
“At the moment he says he’s not going to report. He wants to play for Victoria – he’s home grown,” said Burrards GM Lance Andre. “If everyone played where they want to, there would be no point in having a draft.”
Andre said there was no way he would let Marshal slip past his pick, unless Victoria made a deal to move up.
“We tried to make some moves, but it didn’t work out,” he said.
He called King “The best offensive player in the draft, hands down.”
His older brother Jesse King already plays for the Shamrocks, also plays in the NLL, and is considered one of the most complete lacrosse players in the game today.
Marshal grew up learning from a big brother who is elite, and combines his natural speed and athleticism with a high lacrosse IQ.
“He’s a student of the game,” said Andre.
He is also a student athlete who plays midfield with the Drexel Dragons in NCAA field lacrosse. He has been a Team B.C. player in box lacrosse, and last year King had 31 goals and 72 points in 11 games for the Junior Shamrocks.
Now Andre is hoping to make a deal with the WLA Shamrocks, so they can bring one of their own into the fold. He is willing to trade this future star, whom he predicts would be a good Shamrock for a decade, in exchange for some more seasoned talent off their roster for the coming campaign year.
With the WLA hosting the Mann Cup this year, and some of the Burrards star players at the peak of their powers, he sees this as the year to “go for it.”
“We are planning to host the Mann Cup, and to make a good push for it,” said Andre.
The Burrards lost in the Mann Cup series to the Peterborough Lakers last year in Ontario.
In the second round, the Burrards chose a name familiar to hockey fans – Charlie Kurtenbach, who is the grandson of the Vancouver Canucks first team captain Orland Kurtenbach. He was with New Westminster Junior A, and is a lefthanded offensive player.
Andre said the Burrards are loaded, and all of their draft picks outside of the first round will have a challenge to earn playing time.
Those other picks, in order, were Dyland Chand and Dakota Coyle out of Coquitlam Junior A, Thomas Hankins of Burnaby Junior A, and Max Gerhardt of New Westminister Junior A.
The Burrards also made a trade this week, sending offensive righty Adam Dickson to the Coquitlam Adanacs in exchange for big defender Ty Goff.
Andre said Goff is a big, strong defender who will make it tough on the opposition.
He likes Dickson’s game a lot, but he is down the depth chart behind the likes of Curtis Dickson, Ben McIntosh and others.
Andre said it will not be the last move he makes to upgrade the roster before the new season starts.
The schedule for the upcoming season of WLA lacross has been released, and the Burrards will host the Coquitlam Adanacs on May 26 at Cam Neely Arena in their season opener.
•The season will run from May 23 until July 27. The complete schedule is available at www.wlalacrosse.com/view/wla
