Toronto Rock veteran Patrick Merrill was the first player selected in this afternoon's expansion draft, one of three defensemen chosen by NLL Boston.

Merrill, the first-overall pick in the 2002 NLL Entry Draft, had ten assists for the Rock last season and had been the team's leading faceoff man, winning 72 draws in 2007.

The unnamed Boston club also drafted two goaltenders, raiding Alberta's teams for Pat Campbell (Edmonton) and Ryan Avery (Calgary).

Campbell, the Rush's backup netminder in 2007, was selected second-overall, while Avery, the Roughnecks' starter until Steve Dietrich was acquired last week, went fourth.

"We expected we might lose Pat but we are still very disappointed to see him go," Rush president Duane Vienneau said. "Pat was a dynamic character and a perfect face for a new team in a great sports city like Edmonton. I'm sure the fans in Boston will feel the same way about him there."

In between the goaltenders was Gewas Schindler, a seven-year veteran who had twelve goals and 25 assists for New York in 2007.

Also among the eight forwards selected was Colorado's Brian Langtry, who was soon traded back to the Mammoth for forwards Sean Morris and Casey Cittadino, neither of whom has any NLL experience.

Boston head coach Tom Ryan might not be done dealing, based on some of the other forwards selected.

From Philadelphia, Ryan selected former teammate Jake Bergey, whose entire ten-year career has been with the Wings. Bergey has 228 goals and 496 points for his career, ranking third and second, respectively, in Wings history.

"Jake had surgery on his knee this spring and told us that he was not certain that he would play next season," Wings co-owner Chris Fritz said. "In addition, Jake has a very busy schedule with his job in medical sales that keeps him tied to the Philadelphia area."

"As a result, we decided that because of his injuries, work and family commitments, we would leave Jake unprotected believing that he would be returning in a Wings jersey if he elected to play."

Also, aside from Bergey and Langtry, Boston only selected a handful of Americans, in contrast with the widely-held belief that Ryan would assemble a predominantly red-white-and-blue team.

Each returning team lost one player today. Prior to the draft, they were permitted to protect either (a) thirteen runners and one goaltender or (b) ten runners and two goaltenders; most teams chose the first option.

Complete draft results follow.

##  PLAYER (POS)           FORMER TEAM
--  ---------------------  --------------
 1  Patrick Merrill (D)    Toronto
 2  Pat Campbell (G)       Edmonton
 3  Gewas Schindler (F)    New York
 4  Ryan Avery (G)         Calgary
 5  Jed Prossner (F)       Portland
 6  Jake Bergey (F)        Philadelphia
 7  Brenden Thenhaus (F)   Buffalo
 8  Darren Halls (D)       San Jose
 9  Scott Stewart (F)      Minnesota
10  Jon Harasym (F)        Chicago
11  Mike Grimes (D)        Arizona
12  Brian Langtry (F)      Colorado
13  Brian Croswell (F)     Rochester