Winnipegger DJ Lalama thought a little vacation before his big day was in order, so he took his girlfriend to Niagara Falls.

The U of M Bisons middle linebacker is one of western Canada's top prospects for next week's CFL draft, when he finds out where he'll be chasing his pro football dream.

At least, that was the plan.

That made-in-Canada dream took a bit of a detour this week.

“My girlfriend and I are in the middle of a semi-vacation,” Lalama was saying as he sat down for lunch at a Niagara Falls restaurant, Wednesday. “And the Giants put a little wrench in that.”

Those Giants are of the New York variety.

The “wrench,” an unexpected invitation to the NFL team's mini-camp.

The bombshell came on Sunday, the day after the NFL draft.

The interest began a week or so earlier, when Giants assistant GM Kevin Abrams, a Toronto product, contacted Lalama's agent, Darren Gill.

“A very interesting prospect,” is how Lalama recalled Abrams' description of him. “With his size we're not sure he could play the inside linebacker spot in the NFL, but his special-teams work and instincts look legit.”

By the weekend, he was told to keep his eyes peeled on his phone.

Sunday, opportunity rang, loud and clear.

Mind, meet blown.

“I'm going to be completely honest -- my mindset was focused on the CFL, on May 10 as the date,” Lalama said. “So when I heard the Giants was a possibility, I was excited. Just excited to be amongst discussions of NFL personnel staff. It was a whirlwind.

“Now my girlfriend just spent a $1,000 just to be able to come to New York so she's not stranded out here by herself. Now it's the time to roll up the sleeves and get back to work. I'm anxious to get there. Now she gets a shopping trip to New York, so it's all good.”

Lalama flies out of Buffalo Thursday morning.

For the next three days he'll bang heads with Giants draft picks from Ohio State, Oklahoma and Clemson, some of whom will make millions this season, eager to prove a 6-foot-nothing, 230-pounder from Winnipeg with a good head and a big heart can play the game, too.

“Obviously those guys are well-known. There's a lot of hype around the NFL draft,” Lalama said. “We're all wearing the same helmet, we're all wearing the same cleats – we're doing the same things.”

As for his size, well, maybe they won't see him coming.

“I just see it as a challenge. There's plenty of linebackers that aren't 6-3 that have made a career in the NFL. Wherever they line me up, size isn't going to be a problem. I'll just out-smart them and get to the ball first.”

Of course Lalama is the lesser-known of the two Bisons headed for NFL mini-camps this week, D-lineman David Onyemata, the first Bison ever drafted down south (fourth-round, New Orleans) being the other.

Lalama suspects Onyemata's incredible rise helped get him noticed.

“I'm sure playing behind him and having film behind him, that's probably where I was first seen,” he said. “I'm the guy that's right behind him every single play. I'm sure that was the initiator. Then they would have watched more film on me. And clearly I did enough, but I'm sure Dave had a role in that, as well.”

Bisons head coach Brian Dobie couldn't confirm that, but does find it a fascinating possibility.

That said, the coach says Lalama's numbers and performance speak for themselves, even if his NFL shot did come “absolutely out of the blue.”

“They're inviting him for a reason,” Dobie said. “He's a workaholic, and he's getting some of the benefits he deserves from all that work. It validates him as the athlete and football player he is.

“There will hopefully be some CFL people that didn't have him on their radar screens who will double-check.”

Ah, yes – the CFL.

Lalama will be back in Winnipeg in time for the draft. Unless, that is, the Giants like what they see enough to offer him a contract.

In that case, he'd be staying down there until the end of June, at least.

“So that would obviously put a wrench in – I've got to stop using the word wrench,” Lalama said. “It would be surreal. It kind of still is. If a contract comes, that would change my life.”

A wrench never felt so good.

pfriesen@postmedia.com

Twitter: @friesensunmedia