The 2004 National Lacrosse League Entry Draft opened with a bang Tuesday evening, as the first five picks (none of them major surprises) came in quick succession -- led by the totally unsurprising selection of Delby Powless by the Buffalo Bandits.

Buffalo traded for the top pick last week, sending Mike Accursi, Kerry Susheski, and two first-round picks to the Minnesota Swarm for Dan Teat, Tyler Francey, and the first-overall pick in last night's draft.

And that, without a doubt, was going to be Powless.

And so it was that commissioner Jim Jennings had barely finished his introductory remarks when Buffalo called out the Rutgers University product's name.

"He's a proven goal scorer who plays tough, physical lacrosse," Bandits general manager Kurt Silcott said. "We expect him to step right in and make an immediate impact on our team.

"Adding Delby to [John] Tavares, [Mark] Steenhuis, [Jason] Crosbie and [Jonas] Derks will put a lot of pressure on any defensive group. We think that their skills will mesh very well and Delby will become an instant force in the NLL."

The next four picks took mere minutes to unfold. Rory Glaves (University of Hartford) went to Vancouver with the second selection, followed by Princeton University's Ryan Boyle (San Jose), Orangeville Northman (OLA Jr A) Darren Halls (Arizona), and two-time BCLA Jr A Most Valuable Player Rob Van Beek (Philadelphia).

Rochester finally slowed down the pace, taking more than ten minutes to finally hammer out a trade with Minnesota.

The deal, which had been long in the making, moved the Swarm up from eighth in the order and brought three players (Derek Malawsky, Brock Robertson, and D'Arcy Sweet) to the Twin Cities.

The Knighthawks got Accursi, Ken Millin, and a fourth-round draft pick in exchange for dropping two spots.

Minnesota, for the record, extended its Victoria connections with the sixth-overall pick, drafting Ryder Bateman from the Shamrocks.

For another sixty selections or so, the draft was uneventful. No trades, no shocking selections, and no cheap publicity tricks.

Oops, spoke too soon. With the next-to-last pick, the Calgary Roughnecks capitalized on the current National Hockey League lockout by drafting Gary Roberts.

Yes, the Gary Roberts who plays for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Don't laugh -- he's got a Minto Cup championship to his name (Whitby, 1985).

"Hey, the guy's in great shape," Roughnecks general manager Dave Bremner said. "Think of the PR we'd get if we could convince him to play a game. That would be worth it."

So, Dave, if you're drafting former Calgary Flames, why not Roberts' Junior A teammate Joe Nieuwendyk as well?

"He's a righty," Bremner joked, "[and] we have lots of those."

Point well taken.

Roberts isn't the first lighthearted draft pick in NLL history, though. The Syracuse Smash once drafted NFL Hall of Famer Jim Brown (who, it should be noted, was a fantastic collegiate lacrosse player), and the Washington Power selected University of Maryland alumna Jen Adams in 2001.

Complete draft results follow.

##  TEAM               SELECTION 
--  -----------------  -----------------------------------------
 1  Buffalo (Min)      Delby Powless (Rutgers / Six Nations OLA)
 2  Vancouver (Ana)    Rory Glaves (Hartford / Victoria BCLA)
 3  San Jose (Van)     Ryan Boyle (Princeton NCAA)
 4  Arizona            Darren Halls (Orangeville OLA)
 5  Philadelphia       Rob Van Beek (Port Coquitlam BCLA)
 6  Minnesota (Roc)    Ryder Bateman (Whittier / Victoria BCLA)
 7  Vancouver (SJ)     Chris MacKay (Butler / Victoria BCLA)
 8  Rochester (Buf)    Mike Morrison (Hofstra / Brooklin OLA)
 9  Calgary            # Matt Morehouse (Surrey BCLA)

10  Minnesota          Scott Campbell (Brooklin OLA)
11  Vancouver (Ana)    Ian Hawksbee (Burnaby BCLA)
12  San Jose (Van)     Eric Martin (Salisbury State NCAA)
13  Arizona            Mark Tinning (Kitchener-Waterloo OLA)
14  Philadelphia       Dan Finck (Whittier / Peterborough OLA)
15  Calgary (Roc)      Ryan Sharp (Whitby OLA)
16  Toronto            Jeff Summerfield (Brampton OLA)
17  San Jose           Michael Powell (Syracuse NCAA)
18  Anaheim (Col)      Russell Der (Whittier / Calgary ALA Sr B)
19  Calgary            Jeff Callard (Surrey BCLA)
20  Anaheim (Ott)      Ryan Tasker (Surrey BCLA)

21  Buffalo (Min)      Jamie Rooney (Elora OLA Jr B)
22  Toronto (Ana)      Andrew Burkholder (Spartan OLA Jr B)
23  Arizona (Van)      Matt Taylor (Whitby OLA)
24  San Jose (Arz)     Matt Alrich (Delaware NCAA)
25  Philadelphia       # Scott Patterson (Orangeville OLA)
26  Rochester          Sean Lindsay (Syracuse NCAA)
27  Toronto            Donevan Ruesen (Spartan OLA Jr B)
28  San Jose           Andrew Roth (Cortland State NCAA)
29  Colorado           Lee Zink (Maryland NCAA)
30  Anaheim (Buf)      Casey Logeman (Whitby OLA)
31  Anaheim (Cal)      Trevor Mayerhoffer (Burlington OLA)

32  Rochester (Min)    Danny Walters (Brampton OLA)
33  Anaheim            Steve Vallone (Syracuse NCAA)
34  Vancouver          Nick Jones (Surrey BCLA)
35  Arizona            Jamie Plunkett (Victoria BCLA)
36  Philadelphia       Brian Nee (Syracuse NCAA)
37  Rochester          Matt Moulson (Mississauga OLA)
38  Toronto            Dave Campbell (Whitby OLA)
39  San Jose           Nenad Gajic (Burnaby BCLA)
40  Colorado           Cory Vann (Denver NCAA)
41  Buffalo            Reggie Vanvelzen (Spartan OLA Jr B)
42  Phila. (Cal)       Andy Murray (Salisbury State NCAA)
43  Buffalo (NY)       Chris Passavia (Maryland NCAA)

44  Minnesota          Kyle Ross (Port Coquitlam BCLA)
45  Anaheim            Dax Harrison (Whittier NCAA)
46  Vancouver          John Panichelli (Burnaby)
47  Arizona            Shawn Kapinski (St Catharines OLA)
48  Philadelphia       Kris Davis (Roanoke NCAA)
49  Rochester          TJ Rogers (Nazareth NCAA)
50  Toronto            Kris Bryan (Orangeville OLA)
51  San Jose           Drew Burke (Maryland NCAA)
52  Colorado           Andrew Huelskoetter (Denver NCAA)
53  Buffalo            Mike Weadick (Elora OLA Jr B)
54  Calgary            Josh Broderick (Calgary ALA Jr A)

55  Minnesota          # Mike Atwood (St Catharines OLA)
56  Anaheim            # Tillman Johnson (Virginia NCAA)
57  Vancouver          Matt Leveque (Surrey BCLA)
58  Arizona            # Ethan Furtek (Arizona State NCAA)
59  Philadelphia       Stephen Berger (Washington College)
60  Rochester          Justin Wahl (Nazareth NCAA)
61  Toronto            Jordan Bosomworth (Elora Jr B)
62  San Jose           Walid Hajj (Georgetown NCAA)
63  Colorado           Mark Plonke (Colorado State NCAA)
64  Buffalo            Brian Meyers (Towson NCAA)
65  Calgary            Gary Roberts (Whitby OLA '85)
66  San Jose (Arz)     Cory O'Neill (Salisbury State NCAA)


FOOTNOTES:
 - All OLA/BCLA players are Jr A unless otherwise noted
 - Players marked with pound sign (#) are goaltenders
 - Anaheim traded Matt Disher and Teddy Jenner to
     Minnesota for Cam Bergman, Shawn Cable, Rory 
     Graham and Matt King
 - Arizona traded Kyle Neufeld, Travis Gillespie, and
     15th-overall pick to Calgary for Rob Kirkby and 
     2006 third-round selection
 - Rochester trades Brock Robertson, Derek Malawsky, 
     D'Arcy Sweet, and sixth-overall pick to Minnesota 
     for Mike Accursi, Ken Millin, and eighth- and 
     32nd-overall picks 
 - Gary Roberts (65th) is former Calgary Flame hockey 
     player, now with Toronto Maple Leafs