Anyone get the feeling that there were a lot of unsatisfied people exiting HSBC Arena late last night, following the 2001 NLL Entry Draft?

Washington Power general manager Steve Govett couldn't pull off his desired triple trade.

Calgary Roughnecks coach and general manager Kevin Melnyk may have drafted a player who will refuse to report.

Vancouver Ravens general manager Dave Evans couldn't pry loose Calgary's top pick and later saw a trade offer he couldn't refuse, and thus couldn't select the player he truly coveted.

New Jersey Storm owner Jayson Williams didn't get his man (Gavin Prout). Then again, that might not be so bad, since Willams and Prout are willing to wait.

The fans in attendance, hoping to see fireworks in the form of trades, departed after a 117-pick draft seen by many as the weakest in history.

Perhaps the only happy camper was New York Saints owner Mike Gongas, whose selection of Prout with the first-overall pick -- despite Prout's insistence that he will not play for the Saints -- was evidently based on a belief that draft rules won't necessarily make the Loyola College star an unrestricted free agent in two years if he never signs.

"It's our opinion and the opinion of our legal counsel that Gavin won't be a free agent in two years," Gongas said. "He'll be a restricted free agent so it [Prout's holdout] could be longer."

With Govett's trade offer not quite good enough for Gongas' tastes, the Saints proceded to select Prout, opening the door for the Roughnecks to select the player they've long wanted, Blaine Manning of nearby Sherwood Park, Alberta.

However, Manning's girlfriend lives in Baltimore, and he apparently would prefer playing for the Power, where he and his significant other can remain close.

Whether Melnyk tries to persuade Manning to return home this winter and whether he succeeds at it will go a long way towards deciding the fate of the Roughnecks. A trade would likely yield several veterans, helping the team to a solid start but perhaps weakening the franchise in the long run.

"There's no doubt that if Blaine had his druthers, he'd rather be closer to his girlfriend," Melnyk said. "But we're going to hold out for him. He's the complete package and we feel he's going to be a superstar in this league."

Govett (who else?) had an offer on the table for the number-two pick days ago and will keep working the phones in order to get his man.

"We're going to get one of those guys [Manning or Prout] in a deal next week," he said.

Quieted in the Prout and Manning discussions was a nine-player trade, one of the largest the league has ever seen. The upshot of the deal is that New Jersey moved up to the third-overall selection and grabbed Scott Stewart, but the trade had much to be considered.

The Ravens surrendered the pick that led to Stewart, plus Kerry Susheski, Nick Hartofolis, Kevin Kaiser, and a player to be named later, receiving in return the Storm's first two picks this year (eighth and fourteenth overall) and its first-round selections in 2003 and 2004.

Susheski was signed as a free agent this summer, while Hartofolis and Kaiser were selected in June's expansion draft.

The Storm had already traded its top pick in next year's entry draft, as part of a territorial compensation agreement with the Saints.

Stewart's selection brought one Storm-created problem to a painless conclusion. New Jersey tried to sign Stewart to a free agent contract this summer, claiming that his rights been renounced by the Albany Attack, which selected him during last year's draft. However, NLL commissioner Jim Jennings nixed the deal, ruling that since Stewart had attended Drexel University since last season's draft, he had to re-enter the allocation process.

As for the Ravens, had they succeeded in trading up to second-overall, Evans would have take Derek Suddons off the board. A native of Oshawa, Ontario, the University of Hartford player ultimately was taken fourth-overall by Columbus.

When that trade fell apart, Evans went in the other direction.

"Everyone was after the No. 2 pick, including us," Evans said. "When we didn't get it, we figured we could trade down and still get guys we really wanted," Evans said.

"It was important that we got the 2003 and 2004 first-round draft picks because they're looking like excellent draft years. So not only did we get good players but we were also able to secure our future as well."

The Ravens plucked another first-round pick, tenth-overall, by sending Lindsey Plunkett to Ottawa. With his two picks in the initial rotation, Evans selected Burnaby Junior Laker teammates Geoff Snider and Kevin Hanson. It didn't hurt matters for Vancouver that Ravens coach Paul Dal Monte also coaches the Junior Lakers.

The Rebel likes what it got out of the trade, too.

"In the Minto Cup game [Friday night, Plunkett] scored four goals and had two assists [for Burnaby] and was the MVP," Rebel general manager John Mouradian said. "He's going to go to St. Mary's and play hockey, but he'll be with us part of the year and we'll see what we can do about relocating him around in the future."

Ottawa retained its other first-round pick, at number thirteen, using it to select Andrew Guindon, yet another Junior Laker. In announcing the pick, Mouradian verbally conceded one of his plans for Guindon -- to induce older brother Jordy, a free agent currently playing with the WLA's Coquitlam Adanacs, to sign with Ottawa.

The busiest team at the draft was, without a doubt, the Columbus Landsharks. A few trades that yielded early-round draft picks quickly allowed Columbus seventeen picks (almost two per round), including four in the top ten and an even dozen in the top forty.

In addition to Suddons at number four, the Landsharks selected Ryan Cousins of Toronto Beaches (OLA Jr A) at fifth-overall, Spencer Martin of Coquitlam (BCLA Major Jr A) at number six, and Bill Greer of Whitby (OLA Jr A) ninth.

In other first-round activity, Bryan Kazarian of Orangeville (OLA Jr A) was selected seventh by Albany, the Victoria Junior Shamrocks' (BCLA) Ted Jenner went to the Rochester Knighthawks at number eleven, and Brampton's Sandy Chapman was drafted twelfth-overall by the Toronto Rock.

Because of the perceived low talent quality in this draft, most of the later excitement came from trades. In the only draft day trade made prior to the draft itself, John Rosa went from the Landsharks to the Saints for two second-round picks. Chris Levis became a Bandit again, after Buffalo sent a second-round pick to New York. Scott Hochstadt went from Buffalo to Vancouver. The Power, Knighthawks, and Philadelphia Wings swung a three-way trade that made Chris Schiller a Knighthawk and Scott Urick a Power, while putting the thirty-sixth pick (which became St Catharines' Mike Hominuck) into the Wings' hands. Lastly, the Montreal Express traded Wayne Burke and Darren Mutch to Toronto for Nick Schroeder.

Not all the fun came from general managers' wheeling and dealing, though. Both winners of this year's Teewarathon Award, given to America's top men's and women's college field lacrosse players, were selected. Doug Shanahan of Hofstra, whose draft stock plunged when he expressed an interest in playing in the NFL, ended up with Albany, at the thirty-third pick.

Having both Teewarathon winners selected means, of course, one thing -- someone was either crazy enough or desperate enough for publicity to spend a pick on Jen Adams of the University of Maryland. That person was Steve Govett (who were you expecting?), who called the name of the Gary Gait of women's lacrosse with his final pick, the 114th of the 117-pick draft.

Adams is almost surely not going to break the lacrosse gender barrier, so her selection is little more than a publicity stunt or a unique gift for Govett's longtime friend and star player, Gary Gait, who also coaches the women's team at Maryland.

Adams is not the first off-the-wall selection an NLL team has made, though. In September 1998, the Syracuse Smash (with franchise player, de facto general manager, and, not surprisingly, current Power player Paul Gait making the team's picks) drafted Jim Brown, the NFL Hall of Fame running back who played both football and lacrosse at Syracuse University in the 1950s.

The following is a listing of the complete results from the 2001 NLL Entry Draft, as posted on the NLL web site (picks marked with asterisk changed hands on draft day):

###  TEAM             SELECTION (College/Junior team)
---  ---------------  ---------------------------------------
  1  New York         Gavin Prout (Loyola College)
  2  Calgary          Blaine Manning (Radford Univ.)
  3  * New Jersey     Scott Stewart (Drexel Univ.)
  4  Columbus         Derek Suddons (Univ. of Hartford)
  5  Columbus         Ryan Cousins (Toronto, OLA)
  6  Columbus         Spencer Martin (Coquitlam, BCLA)
  7  Albany           Bryan Kazarian (Orangeville, OLA)
  8  * Vancouver      Geoff Snider (Burnaby, BCLA)
  9  Columbus         Bill Greer (Whitby, OLA)
 10  * Vancouver      Kevin Hanson (Burnaby, BCLA)
 11  Rochester        Ted Jenner (Mercyhurst Univ.)
 12  Toronto          Sandy Chapman (Brampton, OLA)
 13  Ottawa           Andrew Guindon (Burnaby, BCLA)
 
 14  * Vancouver      Scott Wylie (Whitby, OLA)
 15  Vancouver        Luke Ansley (New West, BCLA)
 16  Columbus         Brendon Shook (Johns Hopkins)
 17  * Columbus       Mike Miron (Oshawa, OLA Jr B)
 18  Buffalo          Brad Self (Peterborough, OLA)
 19  * Columbus       Keith Cromwell (Rutgers Univ.)
 20  Albany           Chris White (Peterborough, OLA)
 21  Toronto          Barrett Church (Whitby, OLA)
 22  * New York       Ryan Mollett (Princeton Univ.)
 23  Rochester        Sean Wilkins (Roch. Inst. of Tech.)
 24  Columbus         Greg Floris (St. Catharines, OLA)
 25  Toronto          Kevin Fines (Burnaby, BCLA)
 26  Ottawa           Sam Cook (Coquitlam, BCLA)

 27  * Buffalo        Brian Sanchez (Middlebury College)
 28  Columbus         Kasey Beirnes (Elora, OLA Jr B)
 29  Calgary          Matt King (Victoria, BCLA)
 30  New Jersey       Sean Nadelen (Johns Hopkins)
 31  * Columbus       Tom Glatzel (Notre Dame)
 32  Albany           Jeff Sonke (Univ. of North Carolina)
 33  Albany           Doug Shanahan (Hofstra Univ.)
 34  Calgary          Sean Cable (Victoria, BCLA)
 35  Ottawa           Brendan Day (New West, BCLA)
 36  * Philadelphia   Mike Hominuck (St. Catharines, OLA)
 37  Rochester        Eric Wedin (Johns Hopkins) 
 38  Toronto          John Preece (Victoria, BCLA)
 39  * Columbus       Derek McPhee (Mississauga, OLA)

 40  Columbus         Kyle Jamieson (Six Nations, OLA)
 41  Calgary          Nicci Johnston (New West, BCLA)
 42  New Jersey       Josh Joseph (Port Coquitlam, BCLA)
 43  Vancouver        Curtis Hodgson (Burnaby, BCLA)
 44  Montreal         Brian Buchanan (Mississauga, OLA)
 45  Montreal         Mike Bradley (Toronto, OLA)
 46  Albany           Stuart Schwartz (Duke Univ.)
 47  New York         Adam Borcz (Naval Academy)
 48  * Vancouver      Mike Law (Univ. of Denver)
 49  Calgary          Lewis Ratcliffe (Victoria, BCLA)
 50  Rochester        Paul Sallie (Whitby, OLA)
 51  Toronto          Charles Doxtater (Burlington, OLA)
 52  Philadelphia     Matt Striebel (Princeton Univ.)

 53  Calgary          Jimmy Quinlan (New West, BCLA)
 54  New Jersey       David Jenkins (Univ. of Virginia)
 55  Vancouver        Athen Yuen (Port Coquitlam, BCLA)
 56  Columbus         Jason Wildes (Orillia, OLA)
 57  Ottawa           Jon Donnelly (St. Catharines, OLA)
 58  Montreal         Chris Stewart (Mississauga, OLA)
 59  Albany           Brock Robertson (Orillia, OLA)
 60  New York         Ramar Clash (Hofstra Univ.)
 61  Buffalo          Milan Gajic (Burnaby, BCLA)
 62  Washington       Bobby Horsey (Loyola College)
 63  Rochester        Eric Gooberlet (Nazareth College)
 64  Toronto          Chris Durno (Toronto, OLA) 
 65  Philadelphia     Chris Campbell (Limestone Coll.)

 66  New Jersey       Steve Voituk (Whitby, OLA)
 67  Vancouver        Michael Kilby (Burnaby, BCLA)
 68  Columbus         Daniel Dawson (Brampton, OLA)
 69  Calgary          Nick Quinn (Whittier College)
 70  Ottawa           Kevin Dostie (Wallaceburg, OLA Jr B)
 71  Montreal         Shawn Summerfield (Brampton, OLA)
 72  Albany           John Madigan (Univ. of Massachusetts)
 73  New York         Larry Falkman (South Hampton College)
 74  Buffalo          Dan Bowman (St. Catharines, OLA)
 75  Washington       Roger Vyse (Six Nations, OLA)
 76  Montreal         Kevin Samuel (Orangeville, OLA)
 77  Toronto          Matt Skinner (St. Catharines, OLA)
 78  Philadelphia     Andrew Combs (Univ. of MD - Balt. Co.)

 79  Vancouver        Steve Bishko (Notre Dame)
 80  Columbus         Scott Campbell (Whitby, OLA)
 81  Calgary          Greg Rennie (Port Coquitlam, BCLA)
 82  New Jersey       Chris Cercy (Syracuse Univ.)
 83  Ottawa           Colin Linton (Gloucester, OLA Jr B)
 84  Montreal         Colin Sherbanuck (Orangeville, OLA)
 85  Albany           Kyle Szymaczyk (Johns Hopkins)
 86  New Jersey       Scott Doyle (Georgetown)
 87  Buffalo          Randy McNeil (St. Joseph's College)
 88  Washington       Mike Talarico (Drew Univ.)
 89  Rochester        Joe Cocarell (Peterborough, OLA)
 90  Toronto          Bill Taylor (Wallaceburg, OLA Jr B)
 91  Philadelphia     Rodger Colbert (Georgetown)
 
 92  Columbus         David Harvey (Univ. of Massachusetts)
 93  Calgary          Mark Miyashita (Burnaby, BCLA)
 94  New Jersey       Kenny Crowley (Univ. of Denver)
 95  Vancouver        Scott Bross (Duke Univ.)
 96  Ottawa           Scott Thompson (Akwesasne, OLA Jr A)
 97  Rochester        Jamie Breslin (Hobart College)
 98  Albany           Bobby Gormsen (Univ. of No. Carolina)
 99  New York         Brendan Testa (Johns Hopkins)
100  Buffalo          Al Terilli (Nazareth College)
101  Washington       Tom Tamborino (Georgetown)
102  Rochester        Justin Kohlbrenner (Lemoyne College)
103  Toronto          Rich Dommer (Adelphi Univ.)
104  Philadelphia     Greg Patchak (Duke Univ.)

105  Calgary          Andrew Biers (Victoria, BCLA)
106  New Jersey       Mike Brzezinski (LIU - CW Post)
107  Vancouver        Rory McDade (New West, BCLA)
108  Columbus         Ryan Stopper (Butler)
109  Ottawa           Ryan McNish (Manitoba Falcons)
110  Montreal         Troy Thompson (Orillia, OLA)
111  Albany           Steve Field (Marymount Univ.)
112  New York         Rich Kunkel (Univ. of Massachusetts)
113  Buffalo          Jeff Hochalter (Burlington, OLA)
114  Washington       Jen Adams (Univ. of Maryland)
115  Rochester        Dan Stessen (Syracuse Univ.)
116  Toronto          Russ Davis (Six Nations, OLA)
117  Philadelphia     Mike Bailer (Princeton Univ.)


FOOTNOTES:
 - All OLA/BCLA players are Jr A unless otherwise noted
 - Vancouver trades 3rd-overall pick, Nick Hartofilis, 
     Kerry Susheski, Kevin Kaiser & player to be named 
     to New Jersey for 8th-overall pick, 14th-overall 
     pick, and first-round picks in 2003 and 2004
 - Ottawa trades 10th-overall pick to Vancouver for 
     Lindsey Plunkett
 * New York trades 17th- and 19th-overall picks to 
     Columbus for John Rosa
 - Buffalo trades 22nd-overall pick to New York for 
     Chris Levis
 - Vancouver trades the 27th-overall pick to Buffalo for 
     48th-overall pick and Scott Hochstadt 
 - Buffalo trades 31st- and 39th-overall picks to Columbus 
     for the rights to Keith Cromwell (drafted 19th)
 - Washington traded the 36th-overall pick to Philadelphia, 
     who sent Chris Schiller to Rochester, who sent Scott 
     Urick to Washington
 - Montreal trades Wayne Burke and Darren Mutch to 
     Toronto for Nick Schroeder