Logo Design by FlamingText.com


Tuesday, July 1, 2008

SBU'S DUCH '08 HEADED TO VICTORIA!


Victoria makes deal with Langley for recent Stony Brook graduate.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Rhys Duch '08 made a decision and stuck to it. Despite being drafted by the Langley Thunder, the former Junior Shamrocks all-star said he would either play for the Victoria Shamrocks, or he wouldn't play Senior A men's lacrosse at all.
Over the weekend, Duch got his wish.
The Shamrocks traded a first-round pick in next year's draft for the right-handed scorer, and will have Duch at practice tonight.
"It's exciting. It's kind of dream when you're a kid. Now it's a reality," said Duch, who wanted to follow in the green and white footsteps of his dad Mike Duch. "There was never any option for me to go anywhere else but Victoria."
"If I had to play against [the Shamrocks], then I'd be rooting for the team I was playing against."
A recent graduate of Stony Brook University in New York, Duch's college field lacrosse commitments meant he never played a full schedule with the Junior Shamrocks, yet he always managed to wind up among the B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League's top scorers, and was the team MVP in 2006. In the 70 appearances of his junior career, he averaged four points a game, including racking up 27 goals and 41 assists in 16 regular season games last season. During eight playoff contests, he had 12 goals and 17 assists.
"He would just rocket to the top of the charts," Victoria GM Chris Welch said. "These are the most impressive numbers we've seen in a long time from a Victoria born-and-bred product."
Due to previous commitments, Duch won't be available for the Shamrocks game in Langley on Wednesday night, but he could be in the lineup for the team's home game on Friday against Maple Ridge.
Welch described Duch as the complete package -- a player who is intelligent, patient, has good hands, and a good shot, as well as being able to move the ball well, see the floor, and make good decisions. One of those decisions was to take a shot that the Shamrocks could work a deal, and he scored on that one, too.
"He's been waiting for this day for awhile, and we've been waiting for it too," Welch said. "He's a building block -- a key piece of our future."