The Calgary Roughnecks selected eight players in the 2024 National Lacrosse League Entry Draft held virtually on Sunday.
With the fifth overall pick, Calgary selected forward Brayden Mayea from High Point University in North Carolina. The Windsor, Ont., native broke numerous records during his final season at High Point, finishing with 46 goals to lead the league and set a single-season scoring record for the Panthers. He ranked sixth among NCAA Division I players in goals per game (3.07) and notched three goals or more in eight games. The 23-year-old played junior A for the St Catharines Athletics, putting up 45 points in 17 games in his last season with the club in 2019.
“Brayden is a natural goal scorer, and I don’t expect things to be any different with him coming into the NLL” said Roughnecks head coach Josh Sanderson. “There will be an adjustment as he comes back to the box game, but no question that he will be a high-end goal scorer, his compete level is exceptional.”
With the 10th overall pick in the first round, the Roughnecks selected transition player Jack Follows from Cornell University in New York. Most recently, the Oakville, Ont. native played for his hometown club in the senior B division in 2023 before moving up to the Oakville Rock Sr. A of Major Series Lacrosse in 2024.
“Jack has been good defensively all the way through. We’re happy to draft a character player that competes as hard as he does,” said Sanderson.
The team rounded out the draft selecting goaltender Colby Bowman (33th), forward Austin Ducommun (48th), defender Carter Cook (54th), defender Aiden Hindson (62nd), forward/defender Luke Williams (66th) and forward Ben Foster (77th_.
“We are very pleased with our draft results this year,” said Roughnecks GM Mike Board. “We’ve selected eight quality athletes that will come to camp prepared to compete hard to earn a spot on our roster.”
Here is the list of the Roughnecks’ 2024 draft picks:
RND O/A PLAYER, POSITION, 2024 TEAM (LEAGUE), JUNIOR CLUB (LEAGUE)
1 5 Brayden Mayea, LF, Carolina Chaos (PLL), St Catharines (OJLL) 1 10 Jack Follows, LD, Oakville Rock Sr A (MSL), Oakville (OJLL) 3 33 Colby Bowman, G, Nanaimo Sr A (WLA), Nanaimo Jnr A (BCJLL) 4 48 Austin Ducommun, RO, New Westminster (WLA), New Westminster Jnr A (BCJLL) 4 54 Carter Cook, LD, Calgary Mounties Sr A (RMLL), Calgary Mounties Jnr A (RMJLL) 5 62 Aiden Hindson, RD, New Westminster Jnr A (BCJLL) 5 66 Luke Williams, FO/RD, Marquette University 6 77 Ben Foster, RO, Calgary Mounties Sr A (RMLL), Calgary Mounties Jnr A (RMJLL)