Ryland Rees is returning to Coquitlam.
The Sr. Adanacs, which had three selections in the first round of Thursday’s Western Lacrosse Association draft, used two of them to acquire the former star defender of the Junior team from the Burnaby Lakers. In return, Burnaby got Coquitlam’s third and sixth picks.
Rees, who was selected second overall in last year’s draft, scored six points in nine games for the Lakers. He was also picked second overall by the Rochester Knighthawks in last September’s National Lacrosse League draft. He has four points in seven games there.
In a Twitter post, Rees said he was “excited for the opportunity to get back with the A’s.”
He finished his junior career with the Jr. Adanacs, which had acquired him from the Port Coquitlam Saints midway through the 2018 season. He’ll also be reunited with Pat Coyle, the longtime coach of the Jr. Adanacs, who’s now in charge of the senior team.
Rees, a Port Coquitlam native, attended Stony Brook University in New York where he was named the America East defensive player of the year last season. He also represented Canada at the 2018 world field lacrosse championship in Israel.
The repatriation of Rees was only one of several highlights at Thursday’s draft for the Sr. Adanacs, which is trying to rebuild after winning only three times last season. The team hasn’t reached the WLA post-season since 2013.
Rewarded for its futility with the first overall selection, the Adanacs selected Clark Walter, who played most of his junior career with the Saints until he was traded to the Langley Thunder last June. He finished the season with 21 goals and 21 assists in 11 games.
With no selections in the second round, the Adanacs then picked Ben Preston to start the third round, He scored 40 goals last season and led the Victoria Shamrocks to its first appearance since 1988 in the Minto Cup junior national soccer championship.
Other players plucked by the Adanacs include: New Westminster’s Taylor Jensen in the fourth round; Emmett Donahoe, another former Jr. Salmonbellie, in the fifth round; Jake Campbell, from the Victoria Shamrocks, in the sixth round; and, in the eighth round, Josh Bosher from the New West Salmonbellies.
Prior to Thursday’s proceedings, the Adanacs also protected Jr. Adanacs’ runner Reid Bowering as its territorial selection. This was the first year WLA teams were allowed to name one player from its catchment area to be shielded from selection by other teams.
Only Coquitlam and the Maple Ridge Burrards took advantage of the new procedure, with the latter selecting transition player Anthony Kalinich. The rest of the teams were able to make a compensatory pick before the regular draft commenced.
Notable local players who were selected by other teams include:
- former Coquitlam Jr. Adanac Ethan Ticehurst, selected by New West as a compensatory pick in the pre-draft. He was subsequently traded to Nanaimo.
- former Jr. Adanac Dennon Armstrong, second overall to the Maple Ridge Burrards
- Daylen Kellough, who played for the Saints and the Jr. Adanacs, picked by the Burrards in the second round
- Dawson Rodin, a runner with the Jr. Adanacs last season, picked in the third round by the Burnaby Lakers
- Jr. Adanacs’ runner, Colin Munro, to the Langley Thunder in the fourth round
- Lucas Shein, selected by the Salmonbellies in the fourth round, from the Jr. Adanacs
- Josh Goble, from the Jr. Adanacs to the Victoria Shamrocks, in the fourth round
- Matthew McIlwrick, who played the Jr. Adanacs in 2017, selecgted by the Langley Thunder in the fifth round
- Philip Buque, another grad of the Jr. Adanacs, to the Burnaby Lakers in the fifth round
- PoCo Saints goalie Kyle Mooney, in the eighth round to the Salmonbellies
- Braydon Cresswell, of the Jr. Adanacs, selected by the Burrards in the eighth round
