The Burnaby Lakers went off the charts to land their first-round pick at the B.C. Jr. A Lacrosse League entry draft.
The junior Lakers picked up defensive/transition runner Patrick Shoemay from Semiahmoo with its third overall first-round draft pick.
The Delta Islanders drafted the consensus No. 1 and Semiahmoo product Tre Leclaire with the top overall pick with their first of four first-rounders in the midget entry draft held at the Poco rec centre on Sunday.
Shoemay, a tall lefthander, was one of just two first-round selections not on B.C.’s midget provincial team last season and the only player not among the B.C. junior A website’s top-25 prospects.
Zach Manns of Saanich, who was picked up eighth overall by the Nanaimo Islanders, was the other.
“We think (Shoemay) is top three. We thought he was flying under the radar,” said junior Lakers general manager Brad Hara.
Robert Kidd of Port Moody went second overall to Langley, while Delta drafted Liam MacDonald from the North Shore and Mackenzie Rope of Maple Ridge, fourth and fifth, respectively.
Anthony Kalinich of Maple Ridge went sixth to Langley. Delta used its fourth first-round pick to lock up Cam Overby of Richmond at No. 7.
Burnaby also selected the junior A site’s “sleeper of the draft,” Nicholas Fitzgerald from Port Moody, with the opening pick of the third round. Fitzgerald scored a goal and added four assists in two games with the intermediate A Lakers last season and was praised for his unflagging work ethic and “tenacious, tough play.”
The junior Lakers selected Semiahmoo playmaker Sean Dyck, a top-20 prospect from last season’s midget A2 provincial champions, and South Surrey teammate Reece Tomkow in the fourth round, Ben Carmichael from Surrey in the fifth and Liam MacIntosh from Richmond with their final selection in the sixth round.
The big news for Burnaby came a month earlier, when the junior Lakers picked up Mitch McDole from Delta for Davis Goodman and midget prospect Tavin Grant.
McDole, a left-handed Maple Ridge product, led the B.C. intermediate A scoring race with 52 goals and 96 total points for the Burrards last season.
In 2014, Burnaby made then intermediate scoring champion Tyler Vogrig its No. 1 overall pick in the midget entry draft. The underage rookie righthander went on to lead the junior Lakers in scoring with 33 goals and 67 points, placing 10th in overall league scoring.
