The Langley Junior Thunder received a pleasant surprise at last week’s midget draft.
Slated to pick fourth at the BC Junior A Lacrosse League’s midget draft in Nanaimo on Jan. 7, the team was happy to see Aidan Murphy still up for grabs.
“We were excited once we saw how the draft was playing out,” said Thunder assistant general manager Ryan Williams.
“Personally, we thought he was the first overall pick.”
The draft was for all graduating midget-aged players who do not live in the catchment area of a BCJALL team.
Murphy is a six-foot-three, 200-pound left-handed forward from the Ridge Meadows Burrards.
Williams described him as having a heavy outside shot and as having great vision and ball distribution skills and not afraid to go the tough areas and get physical.
“He is willing to muck and bang around,” Williams said. “We felt he was the most junior A-ready player in the draft.”
The player they had targeted at No. 4 — before the draft went in a different direction than they expected — was still on the board a few picks later so Langley swung a trade, acquiring the eighth overall selection.
They used that pick on another left-handed forward, Ty Ewen of the Surrey Rebels.
A smaller player with speed and very good finish, Williams described him as someone who plays bigger than his size.
Ewen will only be in the line-up for part of the regular season as he is currently at a prep school in Virginia.
“Ty is going to bring a stick that not a lot of kids his age have,” Williams said.
With the team’s next two selections, they chose goaltender Dryden Recsky of the Mission Sasquatch (11th overall) and then another left-handed forward, Andrew Joseph out of the North Shore Indians at No. 18.
Williams, a former goaltender himself, said Recsky likely saw the most shots out of any midget A1 lacrosse goalie last season, turning away 50 to 60 shots per game.
And the six-foot-, 190-pound Joseph has great visions and hands who will be hard to stop as he drives the net.
“He could very well be the sleeper of this draft and prove he should have gone top five,” Williams said.
“Again, we are very excited to have drafted a player of his calibre so late in the draft.”
The Thunder’s other picks included:
Imat Grewal (Mission Sasquatch, 20th)
Ronaldo Tomas (Surrey Rebels, 24th)
Thane Huson (Sunshine Coast, 26th)
Trevor Ebbutt (Ridge Meadows Burrards, 28th)
Brodie Jacobs (North Shore Indians, 36th)
Hunter Van Hest (Richmond Roadrunners, 44th)
Logan Bebb (Surrey Rebels, 47th)
