A former star goalie for the Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs could soon be returning to professional lacrosse. And he'll be doing it close to home.
The Vancouver Warriors of the National Lacrosse League acquired Christian Del Bianco from the Calgary Roughnecks in a trade announced Monday, March 10.
In return, the Roughnecks get defenceman and former first-round draft pick Brayden Laity, who played his junior lacrosse with the Port Coquitlam Saints, along with two first-round draft picks and another in the second round.
Del Bianco announced last July that he would not return to the Roughnecks so he could concentrate on building his contracting business in Metro Vancouver.
Del Bianco was selected in the second round of the NLL entry draft in 2015 and played all of 19 seconds in his first game for the pro team in 2015.
But Del Bianco continued his summer seasons locally. In 2018, he led the Jr. Adanacs to the Minto Cup national Junior A lacrosse championship.
The Sr. Adanacs brought Del Bianco aboard in 2019 following his first overall selection in the Western Lacrosse Association’s draft, but his stay with his hometown team lasted just seven games before he was traded to the Maple Ridge Burrards.
The Adanacs reacquired Del Bianco in 2020 and he helped the team qualify for the WLA playoffs in 2022, its first post-season berth in nine years. He was also named the league’s most valuable player.
Playing for Calgary during the winters, Del Bianco was named to the NLL’s second all-star team in 2019 and in 2023 he was the league’s goalie of the year as well as its most valuable player and a member of the first all-star team. In 112 career regular season and playoff games for the Roughnecks, he won 52 games and lost 39.
Two years ago, Del Bianco joined the Senior B Ladner Pioneers for the summer lacrosse season, an arrangement he told the Delta Optimist affords him more flexibility to work on his business. In 2024, he was named the most valuable player in the President’s Cup championship tournament that the Pioneers won for the third straight year.
In February, the Coquitlam Adanacs announced it was returning a team to the Senior B West Coast Senior Lacrosse Association to play as the Coquitlam Bandits.
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