Crowley was the first Laker taken off the board, taken 12th overall by the Halifax Thunderbirds. He joins fellow Lakers Thomas Hoggarth, Dustyn Birkhof, Jake Withers, Colton Armstrong and play-by-play announcer Pete Dalliday.
The left defenceman was ranked 13th of the top 50 prospects by Inside Lacrosse’s analyst (and Peterborough native) Stephen Stamp. According to Stamp’s column, he cited Crowley as a “rugged, skilled and effectively nasty defender who is going to make an NLL team more than happy to wait a year to add him to the active roster.”
Crowley opted to stay at Rutgers University for his fifth season after leaving Princeton. He played in 44 games in four seasons with the club.
Coyle was selected 44th overall in the fourth round by the Rochester Knighthawks. He will see familiar faces in fellow Lakers Brad McCulley, Matt Gilray, Drew Hutchinson, Ryan Lanchbury and Adam Thistlethwaite.
The right defenceman had finished his junior season with Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. He also played 44 career games for Hamilton, scoring 59 goals and 44 assists.
Stamp ranked him 43rd among the top 50 prospects, citing him as ‘gritty and smart.’ “Coyle is a fairly typical Peterborough lacrosse player. He plays the game the right way, is active on and off the ball and can contribute to the running game,” wrote Stamp.
Just eight picks later, the Georgia Swarm took Lakers defenceman Brendan Boyle 52nd overall as the first pick of the fifth round. He joins former Laker and Peterborough native Carter Page, Laker Ben Trumble and fellow Laker and Curve Lake First Nation’s Deacon Knott, who was recently taken by the Swarm in this year’s Dispersal draft.
Boyle played 12 games for the Lakers this season, netting one assist. Before Peterborough, he spent three seasons at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisc., playing 39 games.
Stamp was ranked 45th among the top 50 prospects in Stamp’s column. “He plays a simple game predicated on making it difficult for opponents to get to good scoring areas, and he does so effectively,” Stamp mentioned.
