The Portland LumberJax selected forward Dan Dawson with the first pick Monday evening in a National Lacrosse League dispersal draft.

Dawson, taken from the Arizona Sting, scored 47 goals last season, adding needed firepower to what was the league's lowest-scoring offense in 2007.

The league quickly arranged and conducted the three-round snake-order draft to distribute players from the Sting and Boston Blazers, both of whom have taken a one-year suspension of operations.

Adding to the league's first-ever dispersal draft for multiple teams, clubs had to weigh differing re-entry rules for the Sting and Blazers -- while Boston will start from scratch in 2009, Arizona took advantage of a one-time opportunity to reclaim its players when it returns to the league.

Judging from the first-round selections, though, teams may not be worried about Arizona returning to the league next year, if ever.

Six of the first seven players drafted came from the Sting, including Dawson, goaltender Rob Blasdell (Philadelphia, third-overall), defenseman Scott Self (Chicago, fourth), and forward Lindsay Plunkett (Chicago, sixth).

The Shamrox got their extra first-round selection courtesy of a pre-draft trade with Toronto, in which the Rock sent the pick, defenseman Kevin Fines and a 2008 fifth-round entry draft pick for all-star defenseman Cam Woods.

Toronto followed that up today by signing defenseman Peter Lough, who had been Arizona's captain the past three seasons and, because of his status as an unrestricted free agent, will not have to be returned if and when Arizona reactivates.

In other pre-draft trading, the Minnesota Swarm sent goaltender Matt Disher to the Edmonton Rush in exchange for the fifth-overall pick in the dispersal draft, which the Swarm used on forward Andy Secore.

Minnesota then filled its gap in net by drafting Ryan Avery with the eighth dispersal pick.

In what might be the steal of the draft, Buffalo gambled the tenth-overall pick on Craig Conn, whose injured knee will keep him out of action for most, if not all, of the season.

The bet pays off if Conn returns in time for the playoffs and increases in value the longer Arizona is sidelined; if healthy, Conn almost certainly would have been chosen in the first three picks.

Only four Blazers went in the first round, starting with Patrick Merrill, second-overall to New York.

Complete draft results follow.

##  TEAM                SELECTION (POS)
--  ------------------  --------------------------
 1  Portland            Dan Dawson (F)
 2  New York            Patrick Merrill (D)
 3  Philadelphia        Rob Blasdell (G)
 4  Chicago             Scott Self (D)
 5  Minnesota (Edm)     Andy Secore (F)
 6  Chicago (Tor)       Lindsay Plunkett (F)
 7  San Jose            Peter Veltman (F)
 8  Minnesota           Ryan Avery (G)
 9  Calgary             Pat Campbell (G)
10  Buffalo             Craig Conn (F)
11  Colorado            Bruce Murray (D)
12  Rochester           Jack Reid (D)

13  Rochester           Matt Lyons (F)
14  Colorado            Matt Brown (F)
15  Buffalo             Brian Croswell (F)
16  Calgary             Bruce Codd (D)
17  Minnesota           Mike Grimes (D)
18  San Jose            Sean Morris (F)
19  Toronto             Curtis Ptolemy (F)
20  Edmonton            Chris Seller (F)
21  Chicago             Brock Boyle (F)
22  Philadelphia        Jamie Rooney (F)
23  New York            Matt Alrich (D)
24  Portland            Derek Malawsky (F)

25  Portland            Brad MacDonald (D)
26  New York            Greg Downing (D)
27  Philadelphia        Brenden Thenhaus (F)
28  Chicago             Andrew Lazore (F)
29  Edmonton            Chris McKay (D)
30  Toronto             Jon Harasym (F)
31  San Jose            Keegan Davidson (D)
32  Minnesota           Mark Tinning (F)
33  Calgary             Greg Hinman (D)
34  Buffalo             Joe Smith (D)
35  Colorado            Jed Prossner (F)
36  Rochester           Alex Smith (FO)