It’s an obscure reference, but Victoria Shamrocks general manager Chris Welch had a Meatloaf tune ingrained in his brain Thursday night.
“Yeah, two out of three ain’t bad, like the song says,” Welch said in referencing the ditty and relating it to his staff’s abilities to secure Jesse King and Chris Wardle in the Western Lacrosse Association draft.
The entire league knew the defending WLA champion Shamrocks would love to get their hands on King, Wardle and Brody Eastwood - all Victoria Junior Shamrocks products - but that feat would be tough to pull off, considering the ’Rocks were picking sixth overall and not again until 17th.
Some shifting occured due to trades and it all fell into place for Welch and Co.
“We’re really, very happy. It was a long ride home, but it certainly made it a lot easier by what we felt was another great night in Langley. We saw some twists and turns in the proceedings and we felt a lot of them were going our way,” said Welch.
The Coquitlam Adanacs selected Tyler Garrison first, followed by New Westminster’s choice of Reid Reinholdt and Maple Ridge’s pick, goaltender Frank Scigliano, at No. 3. Coquitlam then chose Matt Delmonico and that’s when Nanaimo - set to pick seventh and eighth overall - swapped selections for New West’s fifth and 12th.
Nanaimo chose Eastwood at No. 5, which opened the door for the Shamrocks to grab King.
“He burst onto the stage in that performance he put out there in Game 1 of the Mann Cup,” Welch said of King, who had the opportunity to join the senior club last post-season, collecting four goals and 12 points in five WLA games, then adding four goals and an assist in two Mann Cup outings. “People have known for a long time that he is a special player.
“For me, as a GM, it’s one of those lifetime things where you get to write down a name like Jesse King on a piece of paper and bring him into the organization,” he added of King, who had 34 goals and 111 points in junior last season and is currently starring at Ohio State University.
“He’s a guy you build a team around,” said Welch. “A cornerstone building forward with size, strength, skill both insideand outside, and such creativity. I struggle to keep up watching his game. You ask yourself, ‘Where’s the ball? Where’s it going? Where’s it been?’ He’s so fast and athleic and he’s going to be a force in our sport for years to come.”
But it didn’t stop there for Welch, who had attempted to trade up to No. 3 so that he could make a play for at least two of the three Victoria juniors.
Instead, he swept in at No. 11, trading a second-round selection in 2015 to Coquitlam to grab Wardle, who had 46 goals and 90 points in junior last year.
“We were thrilled about that and on top of it, a couple of mainland players slipped,” said Welch. “Because Nanaimo had so many picks in there, they slipped and we snagged a couple of great, competitive, hard-working, skilled players out of the Langley Junior club.”Those players are Brandon Bull (taken in Rd. 3) and Nick Stone (Rd. 4), the latter selected after Welch took Dane Schoor, another Victoria Jr. Shamrock. Fellow Junior ’Rocks Cody Hagedorn and Derek Anderson (both goalies) and Thomas Arsenault were also selected by the Shamrocks, who wrapped up their picks by taking Ethan Garland of Saanich Jr. B and Christopher O’Hara of Westshore Jr. B in Rds. 8 and 9 respectively.
“Tommy’s a gritty, heart and soul, defensive guy. Dane is a quality right-hander. Ethan and Chris are two offensively talented ball players who, for a variety of reasons, close to play Junior B, but they bring a lo of skill and potential,” said Welch, who started the evening off by re-acquiring Mike Pires from Maple Ridge for a fourth-round selection.
“It was unforunate last season when we released him,” Welch said of Pires. “He went through the waiver process and Maple Ridge picked up his rights, but couldn’t get him to play for them. We felt it wa important to get Mike back into the fold. We never wanted to see him go in the first place.”
Nanaimo chose a trio of Victoria juniors in Eastwood, Brandan Smith and Conrad Chapman.
“Had to split the boys up at some point I guess. Thankful to be a Timberman!” Chapman said on Twitter.
Then in Rd. 10, Coquitlam selected Jr. Shamrock Dominik Pesek, from the Czech Republic, just before the Shamrocks were about to secure him.
