Five members of Tmen picked in NLL draft

Five members of the Nanaimo Timbermen organization have been selected in the 2020 National Lacrosse League draft.

Ethan Ticehurst was chosen 20th overall by the Calgary Roughnecks, Junior A goalie Justin Geddie was picked 32^nd by Calgary, Dylan Foulds went 35th to Philadelphia, Vancouver grabbed Isaac Bot 55^th overall and Kelson Borisenko was taken 64^th by Saskatchewan..

Timbermen president Chris Bowman expressed his pride in the strong showing for Nanaimo athletes in the draft.

"These guys have put in a ton of work to get to this point and earn the right to be drafted. The hard work will start again for them now to make the teams that drafted them but they have the drive and desire to do it."

If COVID-19 restrictions allow those five players will play pro in the NLL from December to May and then play Senior A or Junior A in Nanaimo from May until the end of August 2021.

Ticehurst was projected to be the top Timbermen player selected and he's looking forward to the next chapter of his lacrosse career.

"I'm very honoured to be picked by Calgary today. I can't wait to meet my new teammates and start my NLL career."

The speedy transition specialist was highly touted going into the NLL draft and he was also a main target for the Timbermen in February's WLA draft.

Nanaimo acquired the right's to Ticehurst in a swap that included another transition player going the other way in Drew Belgrave.

Geddie was an amazing story for the Junior A Timbermen in 2019. He won BCJALL Rookie of the Year and backstopped the team to their first playoff berth since 2011.

Dylan Foulds has been a part of the Timbermen organization since 2019. He has yet to suit up in Nanaimo because of summer time work commitments.

Isaac Bot and Kelson Borisenko are both transition players who will join the Timbermen in 2021. Bot is going to school at Umass Lowell while Borisenko attends Manhattan College.

The five picks give Nanaimo better representation in the draft than they had a year ago when current players Zach Manns and Gord Phillips were selected.

It's still to be determined when the next box lacrosse season will happen.

In his discussions with the NLL Bowman has heard about a number of possible scenarios

“Last conversation I had was that they've got a January start, a February start and a March start laid out. All of those are moving pieces as well based on when the border opens.”

The next WLA season for the Timbermen is slated to begin in May of 2020.