Maple Ridge Burrards new GM Rey Comeault expects his squad to hit the floor running in defence of its WLA championship.
The team made a big off-season trade, had a good draft, and will have a strong team right from the first faceoff, he said.
In past years, the Burrards have started short-staffed as their best players compete in the NLL playoffs. This year, with the Calgary Roughnecks not making the playoffs, some key players will be in the Burrards’ lineup right from the start of the WLA campaign.
Comeault said he doesn’t cheer against Burrards in the NLL playoffs, and wants them to have success.
“They would have been excited to make a run.”
However, with Calgary’s season shortened, he will have starting goaltender Frankie Skigliano, forward Riley Loewen and defencemen Garrett McIntosh and Creighton Reid.
“They will help our start incredibly,” he said.
Head coach Rob Williams, the 2016 WLA coach of the year, is also back after his first NLL season with the Roughnecks as an assistant.
McIntosh missed last season with the Burrards after moving to Calgary, but he will be back in the lineup for key games this year. He’s big and fast. His nickname is ‘Turbo.’
“He brings depth in transition – something we wanted to address.”
The Burrards addressed it in a big way, with an off-season trade for Jeff Cornwall of the New Westminster Salmonbellies.
“He’s the best transition player in the WLA,” asserts Comeault. “He’s got incredible speed, and he is incredibly fit.”
‘Corndog,’ as he’s called, also plays for the reigning NLL champion Saskatchewan Rush, and has six years of experience at the top level. In the 2014 NLL campaign, he was in the top five in the league in both turnovers (29) and goals by a defenceman (7). In the WLA, he had 30 goals and 47 points in 56 games with the ’Bellies.
He’s a great player, and the price for him was not cheap. The Burrards surrendered two first-round picks in the entry draft – theirs and one they had acquired in the trade for hometown boy Luke Gillespie.
Still, Comeault was able to draft two kids he likes a lot. In the second round they took Adam Dickson, who was the top goal scorer in B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League last season. He potted 53 goals and had 98 points in 20 games for New Westminster. Dickson also plays NCAA field lacrosse for the Ohio Valley Fighting Scots, and has 28 goals and 42 points in 13 games this year.
Comeault said if he hadn’t traded both of his first-round picks, he would have used one to take the pure goal scorer.
With his third-round pick, Comeault got another guy he feels slipped in the draft in Jean-Luc Chetner of the Coquitlam Adanacs. In just 12 games, he put up 20 goals and 54 points in the NLL. He also plays NCAA field lacrosse with the Richmond Spiders, and in 2016 finished third on the team with 27 points.
“He’s as hard as nails, and yet has offensive skill,” said Comeault, who expects both of his early picks to play with the Burrards this year.
“I was ecstatic with how our draft went,” he added.
Tyler Codron, who missed last season with an ACL injury, is also back and wearing the ‘C.’
The team will still be without the likes of forwards Dan Taylor and Ben McIntosh, still involved in NLL action, as the WLA season starts.
But Comeault said the team has improved depth.
The Burrards had a great season last year, making their first Mann Cup senior A box lacrosse championship since 1990, when the franchise was still based in Vancouver. They lost to a dynastic team in the Six Nations Chiefs, who have won it all in three of the past four seasons.
The transition game has been improved, but Comeault said his team also picked up valuable experience, which was an area where the Chiefs had an edge.
The Burrards started a week ago.
“Camp has gone really well – we’ve had better numbers than at any time in my time here,” he said. “There’s some excitement.”
They will have one exhibition game on May 12 at Kitsilano Arena in Vancouver, as an alumni event where they have invited past players.
The regular season begins on May 27 against the Adanacs at Coquitlam Adanacs at Coquitlam Sports Centre.
Their home opener will by May 28, at 6:45 p.m. at Cam Neely Arena, against the Burnaby Lakers.