Senior Writer Lee Roggenburg live at the MLL Draft from the US Lacrosse Convention in Baltimore   Pardon the lack of a feature picture . . . it will not load.  Picture a Thompson or a Powell! It’s about 40 minutes to the live draft coverage on the Lax Sports Network and after a one-hour flight delay this morning at FLL, not for the storm, but because we needed another flight attendant for the plane filled with about 50 passengers . . . okay, enough of that. Man, it’s cold here though.  Snow hasn’t started yet but it should be by the time this is done. Hope the Chinese restaurant take-out is still functioning. Already have one hiccup as the Jet Blue return flight is now Monday night instead of Sunday morning.  Maybe hop Amtrak if that makes sense?   The Launch hold 7 of the first 29 draft picks – 3, 12, 21, 22, 25, 28 and 29 The needs are more on the defensive side of the ball but as the long poles get picked I can also see adding another goalie to the roster as well as another FOGO for depth.  The Launch finished last season with a lot of offense.  Convincing wins over both MLL title game participants. The future is now.   —————   2:18pm – the draft has been delayed a few minutes as the team representatives come on in.  Brain Clinton of the Launch comes fresh from league meetings. Three trades have been announced. Boston trades Scott Ratliff, the 15th pick and a supplemental pick to Atlanta for Brodie Merrill, Turri, Pellegrino, Chesapeake trades #11 overall and their 4th round 2017 Supplemental Draft to Ohio for Dana Wilber Chesapeake trades Niko Pontrello for the #22 pick from the Launch Atlanta selects Myles Jones of Duke #1 overall We’re off and running! ————— Chesapeake on the clock at #2 – picks Dylan Donahue of Syracuse Launch on the clock! Will Matt Landis be the pick?  Notre Dame All American Long Pole and someone Lyle Thompson is very familiar with!  IL and Lax Mag both have him pegged here. Launch pick . . . Matt Landis!!  The prognosticators get one right! ————– Charlotte selects Ryan Brown of Johns Hopkins with the 4th overall pick.  Tremendous shooter, probably the best in the draft. Denver takes Matt Cavanaugh from Notre Dame with the 5th overall pick. Boston selects Greg Coholan from Virginia with the 6th pick.  Coholan projects as strong two-way middie. Rochester takes Matt Dunn, long pole from Maryland with the 7th pick.  That’s a little off the board given that Brandon Mullins of Syracuse and Yale’s Michael Quinn as still available. Ohio selects Michael Quinn of Yale with the 8th pick.   Could Brandon Mullins fall to the Launch at 12?  Add Landis and Mullins to Tucker Durkin and the rest and all of a sudden you have a nasty starting defense to play against. Boston rounds out the 1st round with the selection of Brandon Mullins. Oh well . . . ————— The 2nd round begins with Atlanta selecting Deemer Class of Duke with the 10th pick – middie The 11th pick is Kyle Bernlohr, goalie from Maryland. The Launch are on the clock . . . back to back long poles?  Robby Haus of Ohio State or David Manning of Loyola?  Loyola did well with Pat Frazier last year for the Launch . . . And the answer is . . . Henry West of Maryland!  Big middie who put up 20 goals last season. At #13 the Charlotte Hounds select Pat Young of Maryland Denver selects with the 14th pick Steve Jahelka of Harvard, or what we Hobart grads call ‘the little H’. That makes 5 long poles taken in the first 14 picks.  Last seasons draft focused on other positions . . . this year the long poles are plentiful. Atlanta selects Tyler Albrecht, a middie from Loyola at #15 with the pick acquired from Boston Ohio selects Bryan Cole at #16, middie from Maryland . . . and that ends the available Maryland middies.  I think . . . seems like they should be a Final Four team this year.  Not to put the jinx on them or anything . . . At #17 the Rattlers select John Edmonds from Cornell.  Ernie is happy.  As for me . . . well, not likely a Hobart grad goes this year . . . but you never know! The second round ends with Charlotte taking Nick Doctor, attackman of Penn. Harvard, Cornell, Yale and now Penn have been scooped up . . . can Brown and Princeton be far behind? Dartmouth?  Can’t be a full sweep . . . Columbia doesn’t play lacrosse . . . or pretty much anything else either. ————————–   We are now in the 3rd round and the Launch have #21 and #25 At #19 Atlanta takes Greg Danseglio of Maryland More pressure on the Maryland coaching staff . . . With the 20th pick Charlotte takes Colin Woolford of Denver . . .   The Launch are on the clock and the two long poles are still there.  Maybe Schmidt of Bellarmine? The pick is in . . . #21 Liam Byrnes of Marquette!   At #22 Charlotte selects John Maloney of Albany At #23 Denver selects Matt Hosack of Rochester Institute of Tech At #24 New York takes Rob’s younger brother James Pannell of Virginia.  Look for a commercial featuring them both.   At #25 the Launch are up again! So far, including the Pontrello trade, each position has been added to except goalie and FOGO.  Could Gunnar Waldt be on the radar?  Top goalie from Bryant.  Another long pole? And with the pick . . . Welcome to Steve Pontrello, midfielder from North Carolina.  Niko’s brother!   At #26 Brown gets on the board in the Ivy sweeps . . . Charlotte takes Brendan Caputo And that ends the 3rd round as Ohio forfeited a pick ————— The 4th round begins with Charlotte taking goalie Tyler White of Towson   Launch are again up for the next two picks! Still some long poles available that went high in mock drafts as well as a few big names from power programs.   At #28 Gunnar Waldt is now a member of the Launch.  We Hobart fans know too much about him! This draft is falling nicely for the Launch, just like last year’s did! Coach Ross nailing it again! And at #29 the Launch take Robby Haus of Ohio State, a long pole. That’s it for the Launch until #46 . . . but remember that Casey Ikeda was an 8th round pick last year . . .   At #30 Charlotte takes Mark Glicini of Yale, a middie At #31 Denver takes Hofstra’s Sam Llinares . . . he was projected higher At #32 Boston takes Challen Rogers of Stony Brook, a middie At #33 Ohio takes Bobby Schmidt of Bellarmine, a long pole. At #34 Rochester takes Fairfield’s TJ Neubauer At #35 New York takes Jacob Richard, middie from Marquette   —————– Round 5 starts Atlanta takes Warren Hill at #36, goalie from Syracuse At #37 Charlotte takes Goran Murray from Maryland, a player who fell through the cracks a little after not playing in 2015 At #38, Ohio selects Dan Lomas of High Point, an attackman.  Nice to see Bellarmine and High Point continue the growth of programs, getting their players drafted! New York takes Ryan Ambler of Princeton with the 39th pick At #40 Denver takes BJ Grill from Marquette, a long pole At #41 Boston takes Jake Matthai of North Carolina At #42 Ohio takes Mike Messinger of Limestone . . . our first D2 selectee . . . At #43 New York takes David Manning, long pole from Loyola and there goes the 5th round —————   Round 6 Ohio leads off with with Cam Williams of Colgate at #44 At #45 Charlotte takes Joseph Radin from Marist.  Some love for the MAAC!   And now the Launch are up at #46 it’s Devin Dwyer, an attackman from Harvard . . . helps with ticket sales   up at #47, Chesapeake takes Zach Herreweyers of Loyola At #48 Denver selects Tim Harbor, a middie of Syracuse At #49 Boston takes John Huffman, Tufts.  Good for another D3 player . . . At #50 Ohio takes Zach Powers, defenseman from North Carolina At #51 Rochester takes Blaze Riordan of Albany, guaranteeing more replays of his end to end goal At #52 New York takes Brody Eastwood of Stony Brook   Round 7 Atlanta takes Case Matthias of Duke . . . remember when he was the top player in his high school class? At #54 Charlotte takes Evan Connell of North Carolina At #55 Chesapeake takes Michael Howard of Virginia At #56 Chesapeake takes Carter Brown, an attackman from Ohio State At #57 Denver takes Jack Kelly, goalie of Brown At #58 Boston takes Matt Thistle of High Point At #59 Ohio takes Vince Gravino of Canisius At #60 Rochester takes Eric DeJohn of St. John’s At #61 Charlotte takes Zac Sappora of Rutgers   Round 8 At #62 Rochester takes Austin Schultz of Army At #63 Charlotte takes Shane Morrill of Bryant   And for the Launch’s last pick, at #64, the pick is  . . . Alex Spring of Bucknell   At #65 Chesapeake takes Holder Cattoni At #66 Denver selects Connor Helfrich, a FOGO from Tufts At #67 Boston selects Cameron Bell, goalie from Endicott At #68 Ohio selects Derek Kadimbo, LSM from JHU At #69 Rochester selects Sal Cullen, attack from Adelphi At #70 New York selects Scott Bieda of Rutgers   on to the convention floor!   John Danowski speaks at 5:30 . . .