New Westminster decided to stay at home to address its left side needs.
The senior A Salmonbellies drafted Coquitlam junior Reid Reinholdt with the second pick of the Western Lacrosse Association draft in Langley last Thursday.
Reinholdt garnered more than 150 points in his last two seasons of junior, including 62 assists and 84 total points in 2012 and a career-high 25 goals last season.
New West also selected three-year Langley product Sean Lundstrom with the first pick of the second round. Lundstrom, a Vancouver Stealth free agent walkon, posted 29 goals and 67 points for the Thunder last season.
The moves came as a mild surprise after pre-draft talk by the Salmonbellies suggested Victoria lefties Brody Eastwood and Jesse King were on their radar.
However, club president and general manager Dan Richardson said the club did go after Eastwood and King but conflicting messages from players and contacts suggested a safer approach to the draft order.
That brought on a draft-day trade with Nanaimo that saw the two clubs swap picks, giving the Salmonbellies Nanaimo’s seventh and eighth spots in return for New West’s No. 5 overall and second-round pick at 12.
“We got the two best lefties outside of King and Eastwood and they’re both excited about playing here,” said Richardson.
But perhaps the most exciting move was New Westminster taking pro hockey player Brendan Ranford with its second pick of the opening round at No. 7.
Ranford, an unsigned seventh-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers, proved a diamond in the rough for the junior A Salmonbellies last season.
The first-year forward with the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League has been given the green light to play lacrosse this summer, so the ’Bellies snapped up the backend/transition runner in the opening round.
“We weren’t confident he would be available at 12,” said Richardson of the team’s decision to take Ranford with a first-round pick.
New West’s choice of Reinholdt over Frankie Scigliano, also allowed Maple Ridge to snatch the junior A Salmonbellies goalie at the No. 3 spot.
“We’re going to ride with Neal (Tyacke) and address our biggest needs for offensive lefties to play with Logan (Schuss),” Richardson added.
Coquitlam junior team captain and second-year Vancouver Stealth runner Tyler Garrison was selected No. 1 overall by the senior Adanacs.
New West also mined the later rounds of the draft well, picking up junior Jimmy McBride in the fifth round and five-year Langley junior Matthew Messenger in the sixth.
Both players bring heart and grit, and some fire power. McBride sports a high shot average over his three-year junior career, while Messanger put up 30-point seasons in both 2010 and ’12.
The Salmonbellies also took former junior ’Bellie keeper Spencer England from Langley in the seventh and junior B Drew House with their final pick of the draft.
Rounding out the top picks in the opening round were Matt Delmonico to Coquitlam at No. 4; Victoria’s Brody Eastwood to Nanaimo at five, Jesse King to Victoria at six.
New West juniors Brendan Rouse was Burnaby’s first pick of the draft in the third round, while Quinn Smith went to Langley with the first selection of the fourth round. Daniel Perreault also went to Burnaby in the fourth.
Defender Dylan Long and playmaker Kyle Dobbie were both picked up in the sixth round by Nanaimo and Coquitlam, respectively.
New Westminster opens its WLA season at home against the Langley Thunder on May 22.
