If there was any drama going into the National Lacrosse League draft on Monday, it wasn’t manufactured by the Buffalo Bandits.
Holders of the first overall pick, the Bandits’ intentions were an open secret – the club had a spot reserved for an elite lefthanded stick, and Josh Byrne just happened to be the top-ranked player eligible for the draft. The Bandits made it official when they called Byrne’s name at the draft event in Oakville, Ont.
The second-year forward with the Burnaby Lakers had impressed upon NLL scouts and coaches just how ready he was for the pro circuit by ripping up the pro field Major Lacrosse League as a rookie with the Chesapeake Bayhawks a few months earlier.
“You dream about this as a little kid. To be even mentioned with some of the names out here, it’s an honour,” Byrne said in an interview Monday on NLLTV. “With Chesapeake, Lyle Thompson, he’s an unreal player and I got very lucky with that (team). Hopefully that paves the way into playing in the NLL.”
The 23-year-old wrapped up his debut in the MLL, establishing a new pro field league record for rookies with 39 goals.
Along with two seasons with the Western Lacrosse Association’s Lakers, the evidence on the kind of impact Byrne would bring to the NLL was beyond circumstantial, noted Bandits general manager Steve Dietrich.
“The toughest thing to find in the sport right now is offensive lefties,” Dietrich told the Buffalo News. “To get one that is big, athletic, a goal scorer, young – it was too hard to pass up.”
Since finishing his final year at Hofstra University this past spring, Byrne has piled up the points with both the Lakers and the Bayhawks.
For Burnaby, the New Westminster native counted nine goals and 26 assists over 10 games, helping drive the club to its first WLA regular season title.
As a MLL rookie in Chesapeake, Byrne transitioned from university by scoring seven goals in his first game and ending up as the league's Rookie of the Year.
“He’s played against men,” Dietrich added. “It’s always nice when they’ve proven against the competition they’re going to see.”
The next two players selected – Jake Withers, by Rochester, and Zach Currier, by Calgary – were part of the deep Peterborough Lakers lineup that defeated New West in six games for the Mann Cup last week.
Burnaby’s Drew Belgrave, who played on the Salmonbellies as a junior callup during the playoffs and Mann Cup final, was chosen 15th overall by the Georgia Swarm, while the Lakers’ Cam Milligan went to New England with the 54th pick.
Milligan contributed 16 goals and 35 assists to finish tied for third in team scoring during the 2017 WLA season.
The Vancouver Stealth, who haven’t picked in the first round since 2013, led off the second round by choosing Ontario junior B transition player Ryan Fournier. They would also tag New West junior netminder Erik Kratz with the 48th pick.
