Thunder add six at BCJALL Draft

The Langley Thunder added six new players through their draft haul on Saturday night as the BC Junior A Lacrosse League held their annual draft for graduating U17 midget players.

The draft was held virtually at Langley Events Centre.

The Thunder’s first pick came at seventh overall where they nabbed Graysen Balatti out of the Ridge Meadows program.

“He is one of the top lefties in the province,” said Gerry Van Beek, who provided draft analysis alongside host Tino Fera.

Van Beek is president of the BC Lacrosse Association and familiar with many of the drafted players through their time with the Team BC program.

“He can do everything: point or shooter on the power play; good on short-man; good defender,” Van Beek described. “Graysen’s very coachable and has a good work ethic and is well suited for junior lacrosse. He is big and aggressive and makes everybody on his team bigger by his aggressive play.”

The Thunder did not draft again until the third round when they chose Sam Allen (Ridge Meadows). In the fourth round, Langley had back-to-back picks at 30 and 31, selecting goaltender Charlie Lort (Abbotsford) and Cooper Board (Peninsula).

Langley’s fifth-round pick (38^th overall) was Devin Allison and they capped off their draft haul by selecting Ethan Gould at 43^rd overall in the sixth round. Both players are from the Chilliwack program.

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