The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.insidehalton.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, September 29, 2017 | 1 8 Kevin Nagel, Oakville Beaver Sports Editor, knagel@burlingtonpost.com Sports cent profile of Watkinson. "It became clear by looking at faces around the room that other teams weren't too fa miliar with him, either." None of that mattered to Watkinson. Though he grew up going to Toronto Rock games, he had no illu sions of playing professionally him self. He just kept playing the game he loved for as long as he could. · · · "Connected to your Community " Team trad es first-round pick to m a k e sure Colton W atkinson available in draft By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff From the first time he watched his cousin' s lacrosse game, Colton Watkinson knew he had found his sport. "It was fast, aggressive, the kind of sport of every boy would dream to play," Watkinson said. "I fell in love with it." And Watkinson was pretty good Rich Lisk felt a mix of nervousness at it, too. Maybe not the star of his and excitement. teams, but always a good, solid con "I felt like a kid on Christmas tributor. morning," said the New England Black He made his first Wolves' general man junior team at 18 ager while watching and went on to play the National Lacrosse four years for the Jr. League draft unfold. B Oakville Buzz. His "You've given Santa play earned him a your list, but you scholarship to Lime don't know what stone College where you're going to get." he helped the Saints The first couple of win NCAA Division Stephen Stamper picks surprised no II titles in each of his o f NLL.com at 2015 MSL draft one. But Lisk, who first two years. held the eighth and Still, Watkinson 10th picks, had a player he was high flew under the radar. When it came on. He tried to work out a deal to time for the 2015 Major Series La move up to No. 4 to guarantee the crosse draft, where teams generally mine the top Jr. A talent, it wasn't Wolves would get him, but it fell through. until the final pick that he heard his name called by the Brooklin RedLisk had strong recommendations men -- and even that raised some from a couple of Wolves players, so eyebrows. he sent a coach to scout one of his games. The coach was disappointed "I'm not going to lie, I'd never to discover the player was out of heard of him," wrote NLL.com cor the lineup, but over the course of respondent Stephen Stamper in a re Colton Watkinson, right, of the Brooklin Redmen checks Dhane Smith of the Six Nations Chiefs. Watkinson was taken seventh overall in M onday's National Lacrosse League draft by the New England Black Wolves. | Ryan Pfeiffer - Metroland Media kk I'm not going to lie, I'd never heard of him. If the game he kept being drawn to a player. He thought he'd uncovered a hidden gem. "W ho's that kid?" he asked after the game. "That's Colton Watkinson," was the response. The Burlington native was the player he had gone to scout, but Watkinson was wearing a different num ber than the one listed on the roster. Lisk was even more impressed after interviewing Watkinson at the NLL combine the night before the draft. He saw a player who could not only provide skill on the floor but be an ambassador for the sport in New England as well. "He was so genuine and looked everyone in the eye," Lisk said. "We had allotted 15 minutes but we prob ably went on for 20 to 25 minutes and by the end you felt like you were talking to a guy who had been on your team all year." Lisk knew other teams were in terested and he couldn't risk losing him, so he sent his first-round pick in 2020 to Georgia for the seventh overall pick. And so Colton Watkinson, who played Jr. B and Division II lacrosse, became a first-round pick in the NLL draft. · · · Upon returning for his senior year at Limestone, Watkinson was named team captain. The Saints won their first 15 games, losing to Merrimack in the final game of the regular season. Limestone rebounded to win the conference title, then knocked off two top-10 ranked opponents to reach the NCAA final, where they would again face Merrimack. With the Saints trailing 6-4 in the third quarter, Watkinson scored to cut the lead to one. Seventeen sec onds and two Limestone goals later, the Saints took the lead and never trailed again, winning 11-9 to cap ture their third national title in four years. "It was crazy; something like you would see in movies," said Watkinson, who was named the national midfielder of the year. "Something clicked and the floodgates opened for us." College was not the end of his la crosse career, though. It was during the college season that Watkinson saw a mock draft Stamper had put to gether. And there was his name along with other highly-touted prospects. "I was a little taken aback it," the 24-year-old said. "I was just focused on my season." After graduating, Watkinson re turned and further cemented his draft status by scoring 10 times in 13 games in his second season with Brooklin. Lisk says the 6-foot-4, 197-pound Watkinson addresses one of New England's biggest weaknesses. "We needed to get bigger and more athletic on the back end," he said. "We have guys who can put the ball in the net, but we've got to get the ball to them. He can use his athleti cism to push the ball up the floor." If Watkinson can do that, what was once just a dream will be reality. "It's been a long ride for me. It makes it that much more special after all the hard work I've been putting in," Watkinson said. "It's a dream come true." MOHAs rebranding to Oakville Rangers Hockey Club one part of Saturday's celebration Oakville hockey lovers are getting ready to throw a fun-filled celebra tion of Canada' s favourite sport. The newly rebranded Oakville Rangers Hockey Club (ORHC) will host Rangers Day tomorrow (Sat urday) at the Sixteen Mile Sports Complex The special day will give families an opportunity to enjoy Hockey Hall of Fam e exhibits, meet some of their hockey heroes and take in plenty of game action. The league, formerly known as the Minor Oaks Hockey Associa tion, recently underwent a name change to better link the club to its roots and hometown. "First and foremost, we want everyone to represent and be a Ranger," says ORHC president Joh n Verdon. "W e w ant com m u nity m em bers to feel a sense of pride and belonging to the club and, of course, to our town of Oakville. Our new name proudly incorporates both of these fac to rs." Rangers Day is expected to draw 1 0 ,0 0 0 throughout the day. In ad dition to the on-ice action, it will feature vendors and giveaways, in teractive games for kids of all ages and even an escape room for quiet times. The free event will also host several celebrity guests and ath letes, including appearances from Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean, former NHL stars Paul Henderson, Vic Hadfield and Adam Graves, Mayor Rob Burton and others. All four rinks at the arena will be in use from 8 a.m .-9:30 p.m. The day's highlight will be at 1 2 :1 5 p.m . in Rink 1 when Ma cLean hosts the formal celebra tion and introduction of the new brand. The house league season will kick off, as well with games from tyke to midget. The Oakville Blades' game against the Burlington Cougars on Rink 1 at 7 :3 0 p.m. wraps up the celebration. "W e're hoping this new launch will rejuvenate not only the teams but our loving fans and supporters and the entire Oakville community as well," says Verdon. For more information on Rang ers Day, visit oakvillerangers.ca.