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WLA's bumper crop of rookies

This season's Western Lacrosse Association rookie of the year race could be one of the most intriguing in a long time.

This season's Western Lacrosse Association rookie of the year race could be one of the most intriguing in a long time.

The Burnaby Lakers, which held three of the this season's first-round draft picks, are holding a clutch of possible first-year contenders.

Although first overall pick Matt Beers of last year's Minto Cup-winning Coquitlam Adanacs was sidelined with an injury all this season, third overall Colton Clark appears to hold the upper hand at this stage of the game.

Clark, a late season trade last year to the New Westminster Salmonbellies from Nanaimo, has fit in nicely with Burnaby's rebuilding club.

The 6-3 righthander currently leads the senior A team in scoring and is ninth overall in the league with 19 goals and 32 assists, including two game-winners.

But perhaps more importantly, Clark has become an integral part of the Lakers' league-best power play.

Together with sophomore leftsider Dane Stevens and Scott Tinning, Clark has helped the Lakers special teams go from fifth last season to first overall with a 38.78 per cent scoring average on the power play.

Clark currently has six goals while on power and a league-high 17 assists. Stevens, a fourth overall pick in 2010, leads the WLA with 16 power-play markers. Tinning has put up another 18 points with Burnaby enjoying the extra man.

Another equally strong contender is Burnaby's third-round steal, Dan Lewis, who has the fourthbest numbers among WLA goalies to date and has arguably played as well or better down the stretch than any one of the first-years, and is steadily improving with each additional outing.

Lewis, the Bunaby NOW's pick as MVP at last

year's Minto Cup championships in Coquitlam, has posted an 8.32 goals against average and a .825 save percentage, despite recording a 4-6-1 record in his first season in the senior league.

Last week in Victoria, Lewis was easily the team's best player again, stopping 55 shots in an 11-6 loss.

His asset to the team is not just restricted to stopping the ball either, as he has contributed to the Burnaby offence as well, assisting on 11 Laker goals in 13 games.

Lewis also leads the Lakers in three-star balloting after last weekend's third-star mention against the Shamrocks.

Another first-year keeper that is bound to garner votes is 6-7 former Burnaby junior Brodie MacDonald, a second overall draft pick of the Langley Thunder.

In 12 games this season, MacDonald has a 5-2-2 record, while posting an 8.74 goals against and a .818 save percentage.

MacDonald is currently seventh overall in threestar voting, one point ahead of Lewis.

Chris Seidel, a backup to Lewis with the junior Adanacs last season, has a 5-3 record with the Maple Ridge Burrards, which took him third overall in the 2011 draft.

Fourth overall pick Robbie Campbell has put up a point a game in 13 outings this season for the senior Adanacs and has five goals on 16 shots coming out of the back end.

Second-rounder Riley Loewen of Burnaby hasn't really lit the senior league on fire after a stellar junior career, but is currently in 21st place in WLA scoring with the Maple Ridge Burrards.

Other picks with their star on the rise are thirdround Langley defender Nick Bilic, who has played in all 16 games for the Thunder. The former Burnaby junior has five goals on 15 shots, including one game-winning tally.

Burnaby's first-round, fifth overall pick, Scott Jones, while getting into the Laker lineup late this season, has six goals in his first nine games, including three on the power play.

But perhaps the player who will garner the most attention from just a halfdozen WLA games this season is 2010 first overall pick Kevin Crowley.

The former New Westminster junior star sat out last season before being dealt to the senior Salmonbellies from Burnaby in the offseason.

In just six games to date, Crowley, who plays pro field lacrosse back east as well, has scored 14 times, including three game-winners, while averaging four points per outing.

Crowley has also been named a game star in all but two of the six league games he's played to date.

tberridge@royalcityrecord.com