BROOKLIN HAS THREE SELECTIONS INCLUDING TOP PICK OVERALL IN MSL ENTRY DRAFT

By Sam Laskaris

Several new faces will be joining the Brooklin Lacrosse Club on Thursday night. The Brooklin franchise has seven picks, including the first selection over-all, heading into the Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) Entry Draft.

Representatives from the league’s six squads will participate in the five-round draft, which will be held over a Zoom call. Members of the public can follow the proceedings and see the names of those selected via the MSL’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Besides having the Number 1 selection, the Brooklin club will also have two other first-round picks. Brooklin acquired the fifth pick over-all in a 2019 trade with the Six Nations Chiefs. And it scooped up the sixth selection over-all in a deal with the Peterborough Lakers that same year.

Brooklin head coach/general manager Brad MacArthur said it is unlikely the team would be announcing the name of the player it would take first over-all prior to the draft.

MacArthur said members of the Brooklin coaching staff, as well as the coaches from its Senior B affiliate Merchants Lacrosse Club, had met several times to discuss draft strategy. Those discussions led to three individuals that the organization’s coaches felt could be worthy of being the top pick over-all.

“We want to improve our areas of our offence,” MacArthur said. “That said, there is some strong two way players we've looked at." Brooklin had netted a league-low of 130 goals in 18 games during the 2019 regular season. MacArthur added the squad did select some offensively gifted players in the 2020 MSL Entry Draft. “But they haven’t had a chance to prove themselves yet,” he said. That’s because the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the entire 2020 MSL season.

In terms of the depth of this year’s draft, MacArthur said he doesn’t believe there are as many offensively minded stars in the making that are available as there was a year ago. But he added the calibre of those who concentrate on defence is in all likelihood better than the draft class of 2020.

Besides its three first-round picks, Brooklin will also be selecting one player in each of the ensuing four rounds. While drafts are all about speculating on players who might be able to assist teams in the future, MacArthur is hoping some of Brooklin’s draftees can suit up for the club sooner rather than later.

“I’m hoping we can get a player or two that is ready to play,” he said. "If the selected players aren't quite there, we can can have them develop with the Merchants, which is a luxury to have."