Tmen dominate first round of WLA Draft

The Nanaimo Timbermen virtually owned the top of the 2026 WLA draft with six of the first seven selections in the first round.

They also added two Nanaimo Junior A stars in Andrew Bowman and Jordan Vincent as Territorial Picks.

Bowman was the BCJALL league MVP in 2025 and is extremely happy to be staying home in Nanaimo.

“As someone who grew up in Nanaimo and spent my whole career in Nanaimo it's something I've always dreamed of. It means a lot to me and my family. My older brother is a goaltender for the team. I'm super happy and honoured to be the selection for that.”

Vincent is a dynamic transition defender who is excited to take on the challenge of playing with and against the top Senior A players in Western Canada.

“You can't take anything for granted. Senior A lacrosse is very high level. A lot of the guys are either playing pro or trying to make the transition to pro. It's a great stepping stone and everything's a step up from Junior. I like pushing myself and it's going to be a really wonderful season coming up here.”

Jeremy Wudrick played Junior A in Nanaimo 2025 and was honoured to be chosed first overall in the draft. 

“It's pretty incredible. It's pretty unreal right now. I knew I wanted to come west and I'm lucky it turned out this way. With other guys from our team getting drafted we became such great friends and I'm looking forward to getting back and playing with them again.”

The Timbermen picked Joel Mullen from the Junior A Tmen second overall and added two time Minto Cup winner Jaxon Dillon from Coquitlam with the third pick.

Nanaimo Junior standout Matt Boas was the fifth player selected and Junior Adanac Logan Mellish came in at sixth overall and Caelan Mander from the Toronto Beaches was seventh.

All of the other Timbermen picks in the draft were home grown Nanaimo players.

Logan Schmidt was taken 13^th overall, with Morgan Trites going 24^th and John Spaans was picked 31^st.

The 2026 Timbermen schedule will be released in mid February and the club is anticipating a resurgent year after finishing last in the standings in 2025 at 3-15.