Thunder to select fifth overall

The Langley Thunder will be selecting fifth overall at next month's Western Lacrosse Association Graduating Junior Player Draft.

For the first time in the WLA"s 90-year history, the league held a draft lottery to determine the order for the 2022 draft. 

With no seasons in either 2020 or 2021, the Board of Governors chose to hold the league’s first ever draft lottery rather than having the teams draft based on their finish in the 2019 season.

The draft lottery was held at Langley Events Centre on January 27 with each team allotted one lottery ball with the last ball remaining being granted the first overall pick, which in this case was the New Westminster Salmonbellies.

"We are excited to add even more talent to the nucleus we have already assembled these past few years," said Thunder general manager Rob Buchan. "We should be able to add another quality player at fifth overall."

The Nanaimo Timbermen will be picking second, the Burnaby Lakers third and Maple Ridge Burrards fourth. Following Langley at the fifth pick, the Victoria Shamrocks will select sixth while the Coquitlam Adanacs will wrap up the first round by picking seventh. The picks will reverse order for the second round, then continue to snake back and forth for the remainder of the draft.

The 2022 WLA season will get underway on May 27 with New Westminster travelling to Victoria to face the Shamrocks. The full schedule is set to be released on February 3. The 2022 Graduating Junior Player Draft will be hosted virtually at Langley Events Centre on February 10 at 7:00pm. The draft will be streamed live, free, and at WLALacrosse.com.