It will be sometime in May when the full edition of the 2019 Delta Islanders is finally on the floor. That doesn’t mean there won’t be any urgency when they open the B.C. Junior “A” Lacrosse League season on Saturday night.
The Islanders will be missing roughly 10 regulars when they take on the Burnaby Lakers at the Ladner Leisure Centre (7 p.m.). All teams are in the same predicament as players trickle back home from school.
The club had 25 players at Monday night’s practice and that was a combination of the Junior “A” and “B1” teams. The rosters have yet to be divided up as the coaching staff attempts to put together a competitive line-up to play five of its 21-game schedule by May 12.
“You are still trying out guys and you are also not sure if the guys coming back will be in shape and ready to play,” said Islanders co-head coach Andy Ogilvie. “We don’t even have enough to separate the teams yet and are just going day-to-day right now.”
Delta is coming off a 6-14 season and is looking to return to the playoffs for the first time since the 2016 championship season. The hope is a number of aged up players a year ago, from a strong 2000-born age group, will pay off on the road to contending again.
There will be more young talent including 2001 standout Mitch Sandberg who is headed to Ohio State on a field lacrosse scholarship. Grade 11 Ben McDonald, who thrives on the football field as a provincial all-star quarterback at South Delta, is also expected to contribute.
There is also some veteran presence including fifth-year Ryan Jones who led the league in playoff scoring last season after being dealt to New West. He has yet to play in the post-season for his hometown team.
Fourth-year Brody Harris and fifth-year Matt Hills are standouts in net.
“We have two of the better goalies in the league and it means a lot to work around that because you are not going to do anything without good goaltending,” said co-coach Kyle Goundrey.
“Yes we do have a young team but we also have the most players coming back of any team in the league. We hope to take advantage of that with those young guys have a year under their belt.”
