As expected, the Ottawa Rebel has suspended operations and will not participate in the upcoming 2004 National Lacrosse League season, the league announced this afternoon.

To handle the forty players whose rights were held by the Rebel, the NLL will conduct a dispersal draft Thursday afternoon at 4:00 PM Eastern.

"We look forward to having this franchise revived in a new market for the [2005] season," NLL commissioner Jim Jennings said. "We continue to place underperforming franchises in emerging NHL and NBA markets, where they can be aligned with strategic partners that will ensure their success."

However, even if the Rebel had managed to stay alive for this coming season, it wouldn't have partnered with an NHL team. Last week, Jennings told the media that the Rebel would either move to London, Ontario, or suspend operations.

The shuttering artificially ends head coach Terry Sanderson's efforts to lift the Northern Division-worst Rebel into playoff contention.

"It's disappointing," Sanderson told the Canadian Press. "We were working on trying to turn it around.

"We were pretty excited about our top draft picks, who we felt would help. A lot of work went into it. It's too bad we're not going to see it play out. But that's sport sometimes."

Although the Rebel showed improvement over its three years in Ottawa (going from 1-13 in 2001 to 4-12 this past season), attendance progressively fell.

A crowd of over 12,000 showed up for the first NLL game in Ottawa, a 16-7 loss to the Toronto Rock in January 2001. Struggling with poor crowds at suburban Corel Centre, the Rebel moved to the Ottawa Civic Centre in downtown Ottawa, hoping for improved attendance.

Instead, attendance kept going down at the Civic Centre, dropping to an average of just over 4200 this season.

The Rebel entered the NLL for the 1998 season, when it played as the Syracuse Smash. The team was awful (2-10, 3-9, and 1-11 records), but the crowds were worse, sometimes drifting below 2000 spectators.

After three seasons, Smash owner Howard Dolgon sold the team to the current ownership, a group led by Toronto Rock executive Brad Watters.

Watters also led a group of investors in owning the Montreal Express, which suspended operations last summer after just one season of play.

The loss of the Express and Rebel means that several players (including Matt Giles, who led the Rebel with 34 goals and 60 points this season, and Bruce Codd, the Rebel's loose ball leader, with 101) will be subject to their second dispersal draft since June 2002.

The draft itself will last three rounds, with clubs selecting in reverse order of the final 2003 NLL standings. Anaheim will choose first, followed by New York, Columbus, Philadelphia, and San Jose.

The six playoff qualifiers then select, beginning with Vancouver and continuing on to Calgary, Colorado, Buffalo, Rochester and Toronto.

The Rock was moved to the end of line by virtue of being the league's defending champion. The Knighthawks, who would have been tenth anyway, based on record, officially claimed that position by losing to Toronto in May's championship game.

If no teams pass on making a selection, thirty-three players will have been selected and seven will become free agents.

The following players are eligible for selection in the dispersal draft. Unless otherwise noted, they finished the season on the Rebel's 23-man active roster.

Clark, Jason
Codd, Bruce
Collins, Derek (Practice Squad)
Cowie, Ross (Retired)
Day, Brennan
Disher, Matt
Dostie, Kevin
Evans, Stephen
Fannell, Steve (Injured List)
Giles, Matt
Hamilton, Mike (Practice Squad)
Henderson, Mike
Howard, Kevin
Konopoliff, Chris
Landriault, Marc
Laverty, Kyle
Lawson, Jake (Reserved List)
Leyshon, Andrew
Linton, Colin (Reserved List)
Lockwood, Charlie (Retired)
Lunnie, Kevin
Matthews, Rick (Reserved List)
McNish, Ryan (Reserved List)
Mitchell, Adam (Reserved List)
Noganosh, Doug
Orr, Sean (Reserved List)
Pacey, Eric
Painter, Ryan
Parnell, Shawn (Injured List)
Raffan, Jamie (Injured List)
Roy, Jamie
Russel, Patrick (Practice Squad)
Sanderson, Brandon
Self, Brad
Self, Scott
Serr, DJ (Reserved List)
Tarbell, John (Reserved List)
Veltman, John
Veltman, Peter (Injured List)
Zettel, Shawn