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Burnaby juniors draft for size and skill

The junior A Burnaby Lakers pick up six players, including three Team B.C. members, in second and third rounds of the B.C. midget entry draft on Sunday

The junior A Burnaby Lakers drafted three Team B.C. players in last Sunday’s midget lacrosse draft.

The Lakers, which last month dealt their first overall pick to the Delta Islanders in exchange for four players, picked up an additional six players in the second and third rounds of the midget round held in Port Coquitlam on Sunday.

With their second-round selections Burnaby took offensively skilled Mason Pomeroy from Semiahmoo ninth overall.

The junior Lakers then took provincial teammembers Davis Goodman from Semiahmoo, Chase Preti-Pearsall from Vancouver and goalie Thomas Hankins from Maple Ridge with their next three of four picks.

Burnaby also picked up Damon Prince from North Vancouver with its final pick of the second round and Parker Colley from Pitt Meadows with its 22nd pick in the third round.

“We upped our skill level and our size,” said incoming Burnaby junior general manager Brad Hara.

Hara also convinced former Burnaby Cablevision Minto Cup champion and New Westminster junior A head coach Brad Parker to take over the coaching duties behind the Burnaby bench.

“We’re going to turn this thing around,” said Hara. “Everybody (I’ve talked to) wants to make Burnaby better.”

Hara also put another piece in place towards righting the Lakers’ ship, installing Julian Kolb, who coached the Toronto Beaches to a provincial title in the Ontario junior B league, as the new head coach of the intermediate A team in Burnaby.

In the Dec. 12 trade that gave Delta the No. 1 pick in the midget draft, Burnaby received in return 20-year-old goalie David Mather and runner Randy Jones, as well as defender Nick Kapusty and first-year Ryan Vogrig, who had eight goals and 22 points in just 11 junior games in 2013.

Vogrig is the older brother of Tyler Vogrig, the first overall pick of the junior Lakers in last season’s midget draft. The younger Vogrig lit up the B.C. intermediate A league last season with a league-best 69 goals and 119 points.

In another move, Hara also sent Burnaby junior goalie Jack Woodhouse to the Port Coquitlam Saints in exchange for runner Corey Wong and a swap of third-round draft picks in 2015. Wong had eight goals in 16 games with the Saints last year.