Junior Athletics primed for draft
A good portion of the future of the St. Catharines WMKL Athletics will be decided this Sunday at the Ontario Junior Lacrosse League draft being held at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville.
The A’s own five of the 11 picks in the first round — selections three, four, six, eight and 10 — with Kitchener-Waterloo possessing the first two picks as well as three others in the first round.
A’s general manager Jeff Chcoski is eagerly anticipating the draft.
“Never in our lives (have we had five first-round picks),” Chcoski said. “We’re in a situation where people know next three years for us are going to be a lot of fun and there’s going to be a lot of winning involved. We have a three-year plan to win a Canadian championship. These kids will come into play. When our 04’s — (Keaton) Zavitz, (Tye) Steenhuis, (Mitch) Armstrong — are 20 or 21 these kids will be 18 and they’ll be right in their prime.
“We planned for this. As an organization it’s something we’ve been gearing for.”
Chcoski said the A’s have already singled out who they will be selecting.
“We know the five guys we are going to take,” said. “Only Kitchener and Whitby also have picks and we have an idea who Kitchener is going to take. Kitchener is going to go stay to the west and we’ll end up moving a bit to the east and then we know who Whitby is going to take at five. We have a pretty good idea.”
Chcoski said selecting players is not as easy as it may seem.
“It’s different than the OHL (Ontario Hockey League). No one can come in and draft a kid from St. Catharines. Our guys are protected and we can’t go to Whitby, for example, and draft a kid.
“There are a lot of rules involved. There are a lot of things in play.”
Chcoski feels the players the A’s plan to draft will make an immediate impact.
“We’re going to look for a little bit of offence and a little bit of defence,” he said. “This draft has been on our plate for three years. We knew we were going to load up for this draft because we knew how skilled (the players are) this year compare to next year.
“They are high-end 17-year-olds. I expect the majority of them will be able to crack our roster next year because we have to give them the experience for the next couple of years when we make our run.”
The A’s also own the final pick of the draft, the last pick of the second round.
“The second round is a crap shoot where we might pull off a shocker, but we’ll see what happens,” Chcoski said.
Chcoski also announced the A’s coaching staff, led by head coach Steve Toll, will all return for 2022.
“We’re super-excited to have the whole coaching staff and Sean Howe as assistant (general manager) all back,” he said. “We’re so connected as a group.”
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