The Victoria Shamrocks Strengthen Local Core in 2010 WLA Draft

Posted on Friday, 5th February 2010 by admin

1950-2009

The Western Lacrosse Association Draft was held on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at the Firefighters Club in Burnaby. The 2010 draft has long been identified as one of the deepest drafts for quality Victoria and South Island players in a very long time and the opportunity to strengthen the local core proved to be too good for Victoria Shamrocks general manager Chris Welch to pass up.

While earlier trades had brought extra picks in the second and third rounds of this year’s draft, when the selection of players got underway, the Shamrocks were without a first round pick for the seventh year in a row. But that was about to change quickly. Prior to making their selection at fifth overall, New Westminster Salmonbellies general manager Dan Richardson called for a time out and walked over to the Shamrocks table where he completed a dramatic draft-floor trade with his Shamrock counterpart Welch. In exchange for the fifth overall pick, the Shamrocks gave up the playing rights of Curtis Hodgson whom they had acquired just seven months earlier. Welch then wasted no time in selecting Kory Kowalyk who became the highest player drafted by the Shamrocks since Taylor Wray in 2003.

“Kory is a third-generation Victoria Shamrock and more importantly, he will be a cornerstone player for our club for many years to come,” said Welch after the draft. “He’s a power forward who brings a rare combination of big-time size (6’ 2”, 220 lbs.) and skill (42 goals, 28 assists, 70 points in 25 regular season and playoff games in 2009). We think Kory is perfectly suited to handle the tough, physical play in the WLA and we were absolutely thrilled to get him.” Kowalyk is currently in his rookie season in the National Lacrosse League with the Washington Stealth.

Giving up Hodgson was not an easy decision for the Shamrocks to make. “We paid a heavy price to get Curtis at the midway point last season when we thought we were poised to take a run at the Mann Cup,” said Welch. “Unfortunately, it turned out we weren’t as close as we thought. We have nothing but respect for Curtis and while he would have been a great veteran leader for us this year, we simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make ourselves better in the long run.”

In the second round, Welch used the 13th overall selection he acquired in the Lewis Ratcliff trade to select Michael Pires who is currently attending Ohio State University. “Mike is an exceptionally skilled lacrosse player and he has the potential to be right up there among the outstanding players that the Greater Victoria area has produced,” said Welch. At the 2008 Minto Cup, Pires was the tournament scoring leader with 10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points in five games played.

With the 14th overall selection, the Shamrocks selected rugged defender Rhys Jones. The 6’ 4”, 225 pound defenseman is brimming with potential said Welch. “We think Rhys can develop into a shut-down specialist in the WLA. All the tools are there, he’s big and strong and getting better every year. Many of us remember the outstanding job he did on Alex Gajic (then of the Burnaby Junior Lakers) and what a big part it played in the Junior Shamrocks winning the 2008 BC junior championship.” In 2009, Jones was voted by his teammates as the Junior Shamrocks most popular player and he also picked up the team’s top defensive player award.

The Shamrocks raised a few eyebrows with their two selections in the third round by selecting two players from the Lower Mainland. With the 16th overall selection acquired from Nanaimo last year for Myles Kenny, the Shamrocks selected gritty forward Jordan Weir from the Coquitlam Junior Adanacs and with the 21st overall selection, the Shamrocks selected goaltender Neil Tyacke from the New Westminster Junior Salmonbellies. “With Jordan and Neil, we were surprised to see them both still available because we had them ranked higher,” said Welch. “It was simply a case of us selecting the best player available. Fortunately, both guys seemed genuinely excited about being drafted by the Shamrocks and we’re expecting both will be at training camp. We’re very happy about that because they’ve shown they have what it takes to play at this level.”

The Shamrocks were pleased to select a total of 11 players including seven graduating junior Shamrocks.

Name Junior Club

Kory Kowalyk                       Victoria Jr. Shamrocks
Michael Pires                         Victoria Jr. Shamrocks
Rhys Jones                            Victoria Jr. Shamrocks
Jordan Weir                           Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs
Neil Tyacke                            New Westminster Jr. Salmonbellies
Reid MacPhail                       Victoria Jr. Shamrocks
Tom Falkiner                          Victoria Esquimalt Jr. B
Brendan Gibson                    Langley Jr. A
Dylan Bernard                       Victoria Jr. Shamrocks
Ben Towner                           Victoria Jr. Shamrocks
Trent Tabor                           Victoria Jr. Shamrocks

“We congratulate and welcome all eleven of these young men to our club,” said Welch. “We also congratulate the Victoria players who were drafted by other teams and wish them all the best in the future.”

“This was a very important draft for us,” said Welch. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the overall strength of our club is determined to a very large extent by the strength of our local core of players. This draft presented an opportunity to add some high quality local ball players and we did our best to take advantage. I’m confident this will benefit us for many years to come.”

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