As expected, the Portland Lumberjax made defenseman Brodie Merrill the first-overall pick in this evening's annual National Lacrosse League entry draft.

Portland general manager and coach Derek Keenan wasted little time in making the highly-regarded Merrill the second member of his family to be selected with a number-one pick, following brother Patrick in 2002.

How coveted was the Orangeville, Ontario native? Keenan reports that every other team in the league attempted to trade for that pick, with one club offering four players and four draft picks.

"He's the complete package in terms of character and ability," Keenan told the Canadian Press. "He's a very, very solid person.

"He's a tremendous overall player -- big, strong and fast. I look at him as a Jim Veltman-type guy we can build a team around."

Rochester took Bellarmine University product Shawn Evans with the second pick, followed by Philadelphia selecting Sean Greenhalgh of Cornell and Luke Wiles from the University of Delaware.

They're all highly-regarded box players from the Ontario Lacrosse Association.

Arizona finished out the top five by drafting Matt Brown, a Denver University graduate and another box-player-by-birth, this one from Burnaby, British Columbia.

The quick-moving first round continued with goaltender Matt Vinc and forward Jeff Zywicki going to San Jose with the sixth and eighth selections, respectively, sandwiching Colorado's selection of Dan Carey (Canisius College).

Other top-twelve selections included Chad Thompson (ninth, Philadelphia), Jeff Shatler (tenth, Buffalo), Ed Brown (eleventh, Buffalo), and Scott Ditzell (twelfth, Rochester).

Once the second round began, teams started trading picks and players, with Philadelphia first moving out of the second round by acquiring Brad Self from Colorado, then moving back in (Andrew Burkholder to Rochester) to select reigning Tewaaraton Trophy (collegiate player of the year) recipient Kyle Harrison of Johns Hopkins.

Elsewhere, Calgary traded the thirteenth-overall selection to Buffalo for a 2006 first-rounder; the Bandits spent the pick on Roger Vyse (Limestone College).

Other trades mainly involved picks, although Ryan Painter did move from Toronto to Minnesota in an exchange of third-round picks and Chris Fiore landed in Edmonton after a trade with Arizona.

One notable trade did come down before the draft, with Calgary shipping defenseman Brad MacDonald to Toronto for the Rock's first-round selection in 2006.

The draft was held at Rexall Place in Edmonton, home arena of the expansion Edmonton Rush.

Full entry draft results follow.

##  TEAM                SELECTION 
--  ------------------  ---------------------------------------
 1  Portland            Brodie Merrill (Georgetown University)
 2  Rochester (Edm)     Shawn Evans (Bellarmine University)
 3  Philadelphia (SJ)   Sean Greenhalgh (Cornell University)
 4  Philadelphia (Min)  Luke Wiles (University of Delaware)
 5  Arizona (Ana)       Matt Brown (Denver University)
 6  San Jose (Phi)      Matt Vinc (Canisius College)
 7  Colorado            Dan Carey (Canisius College)
 8  San Jose (Roc)      Jeff Zywicki (Univ. of Massachusetts)
 9  Philadelphia (Buf)  Chad Thompson (Brock University)
10  Buffalo (Ari)       Jeff Shatler (Brampton OLA)
11  San Jose (Tor)      Ed Brown (Middlebury College)
12  Rochester (Van)     Scott Ditzell (Syracuse University)

13  * Buffalo (Por)     Roger Vyse (Limestone College)
14  Edmonton            Mike McLellan (Mercyhurst College)
15  Toronto (Min)       Tyler Gibbons (Owen Sound OLA Jr B)
16  * Colorado (Phi)    Ryan Marshall (Duke University)
17  Minnesota (Col)     Nolan Heavenor (Limestone College)
18  Calgary             Callum Crawford (Dowling College)
19  San Jose (Roc)      Jarret Park (Syracuse University)
20  Calgary (Buf)       Andy Secore (Six Nations OLA)
21  Buffalo (Ari)       Mike Poulin (Orangeville OLA)
22  * Phila. (Tor)      Kyle Harrison (Johns Hopkins Univ.)

23  * Toronto (Por)     Nathan Gilchrist (Six Nations OLA)
24  Edmonton            Greg Whitenect (Edmonton ALA)
25  San Jose            Tony Frick (Brown University)
26  Rochester (Min)     Jonathon Durno (Brooklin OLA Major)
27  Philadelphia        Benson Erwin (Johns Hopkins University)
28  Colorado            Shawn Williams (Surrey BCLA)
29  * Portland (Cal)    Aaron Bold (Victoria BCLA)
30  Edmonton (Roc)      Shane Pederson (Victoria BCLA)
31  * Arizona (Buf)     Jon Niziol (Brooklin OLA Major)
32  Toronto             Cam Monroe (Kitchener-Waterloo OLA)
33  Toronto (Van)       Chet Koneczny (Orangeville OLA)

34  * Calgary (Por)     Ryan Tasker (Surrey BCLA)
35  Edmonton            Brad Rennie (Elmira College)
36  San Jose            Daryl Seymour (Bucknell University)
37  Minnesota           Nate Andres (Whitby OLA)
38  Minnesota (Phi)     Tyler Perry (Whitby OLA)
39  Colorado            Scott Davidson (Denver University)
40  Calgary             Brett Christensen (Calgary ALA)
41  Rochester           Ryan Dryburgh (Kitchener-Waterloo OLA)
42  Buffalo             Ian Llord (St. Catharines OLA)
43  Arizona             Travis Fowlie (Elora OLA Jr B)
44  Toronto             Sean Felstead (Brampton OLA)

45  Portland            Jed Prossner (Univ. of North Carolina)
46  Edmonton            Jon Maresse (Edmonton ALA)
47  San Jose            Grant Halford (Loyola College)
48  Minnesota           Dean Hill (Spartan OLA Jr B)
49  Philadelphia        John Christmas (University of Virginia)
50  Colorado            Andy Glenn (Peterborough OLA)
51  Calgary             Andrew Kirkadly (Calgary ALA)
52  Rochester           Greg McIntyre (Peterborough OLA)
53  Buffalo             Kyle Schmelze (Niagara OLA Jr B)
54  Arizona             Mike Noble (Orangeville OLA)
55  Toronto             Nick Inch (Kitchener-Waterloo OLA)

56  Portland            Shane Chalker (Victoria BCLA)
57  Edmonton            Kyle Dupont (Peterborough OLA)
58  San Jose            Will Patton (California-Santa Barbara)
59  Minnesota           Mike Leong (Surrey BCLA)
60  * Edmonton (Ana)    Aaron Davis (Coquitlam WLA Major)
61  * Toronto           Travis Gault (Orangeville OLA)
62  Colorado            Adam Hughes (Cortland State University)
63  Calgary             Paddy Corrigan (Burnaby OLA)
64  * Portland (Roc)    Daniel Ernst (University of Oregon)
65  Buffalo             Gene Tundo Jr. (Univ. of Massachusetts)
66  Arizona             Andrew Lazore (Akwesasne OLA)
67  Toronto             Ben Powless (Six Nations OLA)


FOOTNOTES:
 - All OLA/BCLA players are Jr A unless otherwise noted
 - All picks marked with an asterisk have been traded 
     today; those trades are detailed below
 - Calgary traded the 13th-overall pick to Buffalo for 
     a 2006 first-round selection
 - Philadelphia traded the 16th-overall pick to Colorado 
     for Brad Self
 - Edmonton traded the 31st-overall pick and Mike McLellan 
     (14th overall) to Arizona for Chris Fiore, a 2006 
     fourth-round selection and a 2007 second-round selection
 - Rochester traded the 22nd-overall pick to Philadelphia 
     for Andrew Burkholder
 - Minnesota traded the 23rd-overall pick to Toronto for 
     Ryan Painter and a 2006 third-round selection
 - Calgary traded the 29th-overall pick to Portland for the 
     34th-overall pick and a 2007 third-round selection
 - Rochester traded the 60th-overall pick to Edmonton for 
     a 2006 sixth-round selection
 - Rochester traded the 64th-overall pick to Portland for
     a 2006 sixth-round pick
 - Philadelphia traded the 61st-overall pick to Toronto 
     for a 2006 sixth-round pick
 - Toronto traded a 2006 first-round selection to Calgary 
     for Brad MacDonald