The much-rumored sale of the Syracuse Smash to the owners of the Toronto Rock has been completed and will be formally announced at a press conference next Thursday.

The Smash, purchased from Howard Dolgon for a reported $500,000 (American), will be moved to Ottawa, where they will play at the Corel Centre in neighboring Kanata. They and the Rock will be the only two Canadian teams in the nine-team circuit.

"Ottawa is a hotbed of lacrosse and this is a tremendous opportunity for the sport in Ontario," Rock managing director Bill Watters said. "We're going to put a competitive team on the floor in the first year."

John Mouradian, the Rock's general manager, will help recruit players, the Ottawa team will have a separate management group. "[Mouradian] is the best lacrosse guy in the country and it would be stupid for us not to have him helping [Ottawa]," Watters said. "[The Smash, which had a 1-11 record last season] was in total disarray last year and we have a lot of work to do."

To allay fears of the two teams colluding to help each other, the NLL has imposed two rules upon the teams -- Toronto and Ottawa will not be allowed to trade with each other, and they must allow all other teams first shot at signing a player released by either team.

Although the rights to all Smash players are now owned by the Ottawa team, it is expected that few will join the team in Ottawa. Syracuse has featured a largely American lineup the past two seasons, but Watters would prefer a dominantly-Canadian lineup.

In other news, the formal announcement of Columbus' entry into NLL is expected to come next week. John Livsey will step aside from his post as league commissioner to run the unnamed expansion team. Former Buffalo general manager Marty Cooper will be the team's coach and GM.

Also, the former Pittsburgh CrosseFire, recently relocated to northern Virginia, are expected to assume the name "Virginia Rage," although this has not yet been officially decided.

Finally, the Toronto Sun is reporting that the Rock will open their 2001 campaign on Thursday, 21 December, against an unnamed opponent. This lends encouragement to the rising hopes that the full schedule will soon be released.