Seven members of this Midget A1 team selected in Thursday’s WLA draft, including Haiden Dickson and Mark Yingling, 1st and 2nd overall respectively
It was another special night for the Delta Islanders, 2016 Midget A1 Provincial Champions.
Led by a talented group of players born in 2000, the Islanders made history that summer by becoming the first Delta minor lacrosse team to win a BC title at the A1 level. Their run as a junior over the next five years did not come close to the same level of glory, including the last two seasons heavily impacted by COVID-19. Still, the level of talent wasn’t lost in Thursday’s Western Lacrosse Association draft for graduating junior players.
High-scoring right-hander Haiden Dickson led the procedure selected first overall by the New Westminster Salmonbellies in the compensatory/protected round of the draft. The selection was no surprise given that the high school graduate Seaquam is already in his second season with the Calgary Roughnecks of the National Lacrosse League where he has tallied 12 points, including six goals, in five games so far. now this season.
Taken just behind Dickson, longtime Delta teammate and 2021 Islanders Junior “A” captain Mark Yingling, by the Nanaimo Timbermen.
The South Delta native and Vancouver College graduate was quickly traded to the Burnaby Lakers as the teams traded first-round picks in 2022 and an additional second-round selection was also awarded to the Timbermen. Yingling currently plays in the Arena Lacrosse League.
Three other players from the 2016 squad have gone to the fourth round as Jon Greig, Jake Cantlon and Arjan Singh are members of the Victoria Shamrocks, Lakers and Timbermen respectively.
The fifth round saw Jared Moloci go to New West and Max Stalling to Burnaby, making them seven Championship team players selected in the draft.
Other Islanders Junior “A” members to enter the draft include Ty Ewen 10th overall for the Lakers, while Justyn Gurney was taken with the 13th pick by Victoria.