'Bellies Winter Round-Up

The 2011 season ended in August but the 2011-12 winter certainly had a lot for Jr. Bellie’s players, staff and fans to discuss. Lets do a bit of a round up of the highlights.

The 2011 NLL Draft was especially notable with Jr. 'Bellies alumni and players being prominently involved.

Prominence doesn’t get any more prominent than going #1 over all, which is where former Jr. Bellies star Kevin Crowley was chosen. This made a hat trick for Kevin, going along with being the #1 over all pick in the Major League Lacrosse and the WLA drafts. Philadelphia Wings chose Kevin and he is currently leading the team in goals scored.

Kevin’s Jr. 'Bellies, Stonybrook University and Senior 'Bellies teammate Jordan McBride went to Colorado in the 2nd Round of the NLL draft.

Former Jr. 'Bellies player Jay Card was chosen by Minnesota in the 3rd round and Justin Salt went in the 6th Round to Washington.

It is the rare player that can make the jump to the NLL pro ranks while still playing junior lacrosse but that is the position that Jr. 'Bellies goalie Frankie Scigliano finds himself in. After being named to the 2011 BCJLA 1st All Star team and winning the award as the Best Goalie, Frankie was chosen by the Calgary Roughnecks in the 2nd Round.

A number of other recent Jr. 'Bellies grads are also enjoying life in the pros. The Calgary Roughnecks seem to be a popular destination with Queens Park Arena alumni with former Jr. 'Bellies captainsAndrew McBride and Curtis Manning along with Curtis Dickson all enjoying stellar seasons with the play-off bound Roughnecks. Dickson currently leads Calgary in goals scored.

2011 'Bellies captain Travis Irving is in his second year with Buffalo Bandits.

Edmonton Rush has three former Jr. Bellies players on their roster, former captain Jarrett Toll, Brett Mydske and Eric Lewthwaite.

With all the former Jr. Bellies who have been drafted by the NLL in the last few years it will be interesting to see which of the 2012 Bellies can follow in these excellent players foot steps.

In February the Western Lacrosse Draft of graduating junior players took place and once again ‘our boys’ were very well represented. Travis Irving to Coquitlam, Justin Salt to Burnaby and Daniel Amesbury to Maple Ridge were all selected in the 2nd Round of the draft.

In the 3rd round Leif Mydske was selected to join his brother Brett in Langley and in the 4th RoundDaniel McQuade went to Coquitlam, TJ Cowx was selected by Burnaby and Mark Negrin was selected by his hometown Salmonbellies.

The Senior Bellies then selected Jeff Sproule, Kyle Robinson and Brandon Mulligan in the 5th Round and Jordan Catton went to Coquitlam.

Best of luck guys!
At the conclusion of the 2011 season the league awards were presented. As mentioned earlier Frankie Scigliano was named best goalie as well as being named to the 1st All Star Team. Tyler Digby joined Frankie on the 1st All Star Team and Brandon Goodwin made the 2nd All Star Team. It bodes well for the upcoming season, as all three of these players will be retuning to the Junior Bellies in 2012.

On the non-player side of the Bellies, Assistant Coach Ray Pocellato stepped down from coaching but has now taken on the role of Assistant GM. After a break of a couple of years due to work commitments, former head coach Brad Parker has returned to behind the bench as one of the teams Assistant Coaches. Legendary lacrosse goalie Dwight Maechte has also come on board with a special assignment as goalie coach.

A health scare has put GM Doug Zack on the sidelines for a few months with former GM Harry Ferguson stepping in as interim GM. We wish Doug a speedy recovery and hope to see him prowling the concourse sometime soon.

All in all a very busy 'off season' but enough with the talk lets get this season going!