Islanders select nine players in Junior A Entry Draft

Six defencemen chosen by lacrosse club

Pictured left to right; general manager and head coach Logan Schuss, draftees Tobias Driedger, Joe Foreman, Caine Hepner, Brendan Hibbert, Jordan Gagnon, Quinn Hunter, Kingston Hebner and assistant general manager Jon Phillips. Photo submitted

With an emphasis on building up the back-end, the Delta Islanders re-stocked the cupboard and re-tooled at the British Columbia Junior A Lacrosse League (BCJALL) 2026 Junior A Entry Draft.

Held on Saturday, Jan. 17 at the Langley Events Centre, the draft spanned six rounds with teams selecting the next generation of talent from all over the province.

The Islanders selected nine players during the draft.

Below is the list of players:

Round 1

Sebastian Saunders-Quentero - forward from Chilliwack

Kingston Hebner - defenceman from Maple Ridge

Round 2

Jordan Gagnon - defenceman from Mission

Brendan Hibbert - defenceman from Semihamoo

Quinn Hunter - defenceman from Maple Ridge

Round 3

Tobias Driedgar - defenceman from Chilliwack

Round 4

Hudson Sargeant - defenceman from Richmond

Joseph Foreman - goalie from Chilliwack

Round 5

Caine Hepner - forward from Semihamoo

“Strategically, we wanted to get tougher on the backend,” said team president Matt Hoegg. “We also saw an opportunity to build a bit of a pipeline in Chilliwack. The guys we drafted from Chilliwack all play together, are friends and it builds that bridge because there are a lot of skilled and talented players coming out of Chilliwack.

Head coach and general manager Logan Schuss said he was very happy with their selections.

“My goal this year…we had a lot of picks…we need the depth and at this specific age group we only had a few graduating players from minor into the junior program, specifically, it was between seven to 10 players and maybe five or six will play junior lacrosse, so I’m glad we had the amount of picks that we had going after good size and strength on the d-end,” said Schuss.

“We went out and fit players that really work for our program.”

Schuss said now that the draft is behind them, the work begins to prepare for the start of the season.

“I appreciate all the different sports that players play and the different associations that have provincials coming up, so I don’t like to overdo it for the kids,” he said. “We are going to roll it out a little slower with once-a-week practices during the next few weeks and then we will ramp things up to twice a week, followed by our March Spring Break camp and then continue two-days-a-week into April for our main camp and make all our final decisions.

“We have a really good return on players from last season - 20-plus players on our Junior A roster is very promising and we are looking to build on that momentum from last season of making the playoffs. At the B1 level we return the entire team. We didn’t make the playoffs last year, but this year we return a team that is one year wiser and one year stronger, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what that team can do.”

In late December, the Islanders held its annual year-end awards ceremony.

Here are all the winners:

Junior B Tier 2 Awards

Junior B Tier 2 Rookie of the Year Raine Jerome

Junior B Tier 2 Unsung Hero Tyler Kinnie

Junior B Tier 2 Defensive Hero Tyler Nakano

Junior B Tier 2 Offensive Player Niko Bocolas

Junior B Tier 2 Most Valuable Player Nate Broast

Junior B Tier 2 Most Improved Player Dryden Van Der Eerden

Junior B Tier 1 Awards

Junior B Tier 1 Rookie of the Year Darius King

Junior B Tier 1 Most Improved Player Holden Johnson

Junior B Tier 1 Unsung Hero Chris Paddon

Junior B Tier 1 Most Valuable Defensive Player Ben Eckert

Junior B Tier 1 Most Valuable Offensive Player Levi Crooks

Junior B Tier 1 Most Valuable Player Griffin Withers

Junior A Awards

Junior A Rookie of the Year Ty Bikic

Junior A Dave Pirog Memorial Trophy Unsung Hero Award Reece Young

Junior A Most Valuable Offensive Player Jared Maznik

Junior A Most Valuable Player Jett Burns/Greyson Beggs (co-winners)

Junior A Most Improved Player Sebastian Miles

Junior A Top Graduating Player Cameron Squarek

Delta Optimist
Ian Jacques