Dalgarno Goes Number One in WLA Entry Draft

Port Coquitlam Saint Joel Dalgarno was the first BCJALL player selected in the 2008 WLA Entry Draft. The left-handed sniper that played in the Mann Cup as a call-up for Coquitlam last season was the first overall pick to the Maple Ridge Burrards on February 12th at the Burnaby Firefighter’s Club. The draft consisted of the 7 WLA teams taking they’re picks from the 2007 graduating class of the British Columbia Junior A Lacrosse League. In total, 55 players were selected in 11 rounds.

Dalgarno played 2 WLA regular season games in ’07, 1 with the Burrards and 1 with the Coquitlam Adanacs before helping the A’s in their playoff run to the Mann Cup Finals. The 6’1’’ 200 pounder also plays field lacrosse for the Ohio State Buckeyes where he was the team’s Offensive MVP in his sophomore season. He is expected to be a threat on the right side of the floor and should make an immediate impact for the playoff bound Burrards.

With the second overall pick the Langley Thunder selected homegrown product and Junior Laker Garrett Billings. With 2 Minto Cups, a BCJALL scoring title and 2 all-star awards, the University of Virginia attackman was probably the best overall player in the draft. Billings will easily slide into a Langley lineup that is starting to build around its young talent. Look for Billings to possibly add to his trophy case with Rookie of the Year honors come September.

Maple Ridge with the third overall pick and their second pick of the first round locked up Dalgarno’s Poco teammate Tyler Codron. The defensive specialist who has also been known to score goals was picked in the first round of the NLL Draft and is currently playing for the Portland Lumberjax. This addition makes Maple Ridge a very young and dangerous team at both ends of the floor.

Langley again had the fourth pick and selected defenseman Mike Grimes. The Peterborough, Ontario native was picked up by the Junior Lakers at the end of last season to help with their Minto Cup push. Grimes also plays in the NLL.

The fifth pick went to Coquitlam and they chose another Ontario native, NLL player, and Junior Laker Dane Dobbie. The feisty forward who plays for the Calgary Roughnecks was scooped fourth overall in the NLL Draft.

The Burnaby Laker’s first pick came at sixth overall when they selected the Junior Adanac’s leading goal scorer Calvin Craig. His 36 goals were fifth in the league in ’07. Craig was also drafted by the Edmonton Rush of the NLL.

New Westminster closed out the first round by picking up Peter McFetridge from the Junior Lakers. He’s another defensive specialist and teammate of Dobbie’s in Calgary.

After round one it seemed that Maple Ridge was content, they only grabbed 2 more players the rest of the way. Burnaby as well only made 4 picks. New West and Coquitlam, the 2 teams that met in the finals last season, both picked up 11 players and will have a great crop of rookies to choose from come May. Victoria and Nanaimo, staying true to the unwritten rule, both mainly chose players from their own Junior clubs due to location issues. It’s no surprise that the Junior League Champion Burnaby Lakers had the most players plucked from their system. 12 Lakers were drafted followed by 10 Victoria Shamrocks, 9 Salmonbellies, 8 Poco Saints, 5 Surrey Stickmen, 4 Adanacs, 3 Delta Islanders and 2 Nanaimo Timberman. There were also 2 players drafted out of the Vancouver Island Junior ‘B’ League.

With all the graduated talent drafted there is still plenty of skill to go around the BCJALL. A new crop of Intermediates will get their first chance to impress at the Junior ‘A’ level and third year players will get their last chance to impress before next year’s draft. A new group of superstars and heroes will emerge in the coming months, and you can catch all the action at an arena near you starting in May.