Coquitlam Adanacs would love to get their mitts on rugged defender Matt Beers at the Feb. 8 Western Lacrosse Association junior draft in Burnaby.
They have about as good a chance at doing so as bringing back their 2001 Mann Cup MVP and the long-since retired Andy Ogilvie.
The Sr. 'A' Adanacs hold the fifth overall pick but their general manager Les Wingrove admitted to The Tri-City News he believes Beers, who captained the Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs to the Minto Cup national Jr. 'A' crown last summer, will unlikely still be available when it comes their turn to choose. He wouldn't be shocked to see Beers go first overall to the Burnaby Lakers.
The rest of the first-round selection order is the Langley Thunder, the New West Salmonbellies (from Nanaimo), the Maple Ridge Burrards, the Adanacs, Burnaby again (from Victoria) and the Nanaimo Timbermen (from New West).
"I've made inquiries into about trading up [in the draft] but I'm not very optimistic I'll get a response," Wingrove said. "It's no secret that the weak end of our club last year was on defence."
Wingrove said it's unlikely Coquitlam will get back Jason Wulder, who, at 39, was the WLA's most-senior player last season. Still, Wulder managed to rack up 46 points in 16 games to finish 20th in regular-season scoring.
Other A's offensive standouts from last season, league-leading scorer Dane Dobbie and Daryl Veltman (sixth), have already committed to returning, Wingrove said, but he added it never hurts to add more scoring insurance.
In the WLA's top-15 list of prospects released last week, Wingrove pointed out the majority were defenders and goalies, with ex-PoCo Saints' players Darcy Cummings and Trevor Evans, who were traded late in the season as part of a huge, multi-player swap with the Delta Islanders, the top offensive threats. Ironically, the pair finished tied for 10th in B.C. Jr. 'A' league scoring with 65 points apiece in 21 games.
Other notables on the WLA top-15 list include the Jr. A's Nick Bilic, Riley Loewen, Garrett McIntosh, Brodie MacDonald (goalie) and Dan Lewis (goalie), along with PoCo product Scott Jones.
