1st star – Anthony Malcom, Langley Thunder
The third overall pick in this year’s WLA Draft, Malcom has hit the ground running in his rookie season of WLA summer ball. Malcom is tied with Corey Small for the WLA lead in goals with nine in his first four games of the season. He’s found a place in an underrated Langley offence, playing alongside veterans Athan Iannucci, Alex Turner and Ontario product Pat Saunders.
Malcom had two hat trick performances against Coquitlam and Burnaby, scoring six goals on just 14 shots – a 42.8 per cent shooting clip, for those counting at home. As long as Malcom keeps finding the back of the net, he’ll be a major part of the Langley O going forward. And if teams elect to send more coverage his way, the aforementioned offensive players have proven they can find a way to pick up the slack.
Malcom was excellent in college lacrosse season with Mars Hill, scoring 65 points (35 goals, 30 assists) in 16 games en route to being named the 2015 South Atlantic Conference Men’s Lacrosse Player of the Year.
2nd star – Cory Conway, Victoria Shamrocks
Conway is one of my favourite players to watch play, as he has a knack for getting himself in the right positions to be successful. Having that vision not only makes things easy for Conway, it allows him to find ways to make his teammates better every night.
Conway was one of the best players on the floor in Maple Ridge last Sunday, getting in good position to score the first goal of the game and using his vision for an additional five assists. Finding enough goals to go around the Shamrocks stacked lineup is tough, but it doesn’t seem to affect Conway. Playing that right crease on the power play puts a strain on penalty killing units looking to contain both Duch and Conway on the right hand side, as well as accounting for lefties like Ranger and Small.
He had another two goals – with another on the power play – and an assist in Victoria’s close 12-11 win over the Burrards Friday night at The Q.
3rd star – Dan Dawson, Victoria Shamrocks
What a debut for Dangerous Dan Dawson, who looked every bit of the part Friday night with three goals and three assists, including the game winner with just 17 seconds left in the 12-11 win.
Simply put, Dawson just gives the Shamrocks another added dimension to their already stacked club. He should be a viable part of everything the Shamrocks want to do, from transition to offense, and could be the piece that finally pushes Victoria over the top.
He’s a player that should excel on and off the ball as the season progresses; he scored 85 regular season points for Rochester in the NLL.
