The Philadelphia Wings had eight draft picks in Thursday’s National Lacrosse League draft. Thirty-eight per cent of their picks were from Johns Hopkins as the Wings seem to be banking on local connections to support their fan base. Most of their picks also have a great mix of box and field experience.
Their first pick was the 16th selection in the draft, the last pick of the first round. They went with Jackson Suboch from UMass and the Brooklin Lacrosse Club. Suboch is a close defender who played in all 16 games at UMass before his time was cut short due to the virus. He studied at the Hill Academy so we are sure he will be a strong defender in the league after being in Brodie Merrill’s program. He’s also a graduate of the Mimico Mountaineers junior program.
Bryan Costabile from Maryland was the 34th selection in the draft. Costabile played for Notre Dame and was named the 2019 ACC Player of the Year and was a nominee for the Tewaaraton Award. This summer he was one of the PLL’s standout rookies with Atlas LC.
The Wings also had the next pick and selected Dylan Foulds, a forward from British Columbia. Foulds scored 16 points with 12 goals and four assists for Penn State last year, scoring in every game. He helped the Coquitlam Adanacs win the 2018 Minto Cup after playing most of his junior lacrosse with his hometown Port Coquitlam Saints.
The 51st selection was Ben French from Toronto. He played in four games scoring seven goals and four assists at Vermont, and was third on the MSL’s Cobourg Kodiaks last year with 32 points as a rookie. He played with fellow draftee Suboch in the Mimico junior program.
Marc Pion played at Hopkins and was the 59th selection in the league. He’s a defenseman from Montreal, Quebec and played at Harvard before transferring to Hopkins, where he is a Presidential Management Fellow. He did not play in 2020 due to an off-season injury.
The 61st selection was Jack Rapine, another Blue Jay. He graduated from Upper Dublin so look for him to draw a crowd of local fans. He started all 48 games for Hopkins in his career and is sixth on the all-time school list of caused turnovers with 40. Rapine also played for the PLL’s Archers LC.
John Kit is from Saint Catharines, ON, the hometown of Paul Day. Kit wasn’t on many draft lists but Day would have had inside knowledge into the defenseman. He was the 74th pick for the Wings.
The last selection for Philadelphia was Cole Williams who was the 85th pick. He’s another Maryland native who went to Hopkins and is pretty solid at 6’5, 215.
The Wings have tried to get local guys in the last and some like Rambo and Baptiste have worked out perfectly for this gritty city. Look for the draft players to have a big impact right away in this city known for its tough players and fans.
