National Lacrosse League

A total of 56 players heard their name called at the 2012 NLL Entry Draft at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto on Monday night. As expected, the Edmonton Rush selected Mark Matthews, the consensus top-rated prospect out of Denver University, with the first overall pick.

The Minnesota Swarm held an NLL-record four first-round draft picks, including the second, third, and fourth-overall selections. The Swarm used their trio of picks to draft Brock Sorenson (Ohio State University), Kiel Matisz (Robert Morris University) and Shayne Jackson (Limestone College). The also drafted Alex Crepinsek (RIT) with the tenth overall selection to connclude the first round.

2012 NLL Hall of Fame inductee Steve Dietrich, entering his first season as GM of the Buffalo Bandits, drafted Dhane Smith (Kitchener, ON) with the fifth-overall selection.

The Calgary Roughnecks then selected Joe Resetarits (University of Albany) and Matthew Dinsdale (Coquitlam, BC) back-to-back with the sixth and seventh selections. Edmonton drafted Curtis Knight (Whitby, ON) with their second selection of the night, the Colorado Mammoth then chose Colton Clark (Bellarmine University) with the ninth-overall pick, while Minnesota closed out the first round by selecting Crepinsek.

Notes:
Seven draftees, including four second-rounders, hailed from Orangeville, ON, an area long-known for their rich lacrosse tradition.

Three first-round picks have family ties to the NLL. Brock Sorensen’s brother Kyle plays for Washington, Dhane Smith is the cousin of Bandits defenseman Billy Dee Smith, while Joe Resetarits’ brother Frank played for both the Bandits and Stealth.

The 2011 NLL Champion Rochester Knighthawks had to wait until the third round to draft Robbie Campbell (Stony Brook University) with their first pick at 26th overall, while the Philadelphia Wings were the final NLL team to make their first selection, tabbing Michael Manley (Duke University) in the fourth round (32nd overall). Wings boss Johnny Mouradian, well-known for his preference of American-born players, added two more NCAA players in the later rounds.

The Toronto Rock were the only team to select a goaltender, drafting Tyler Glebe (London, ON), in the sixth round (52nd overall).

Click here to see the full recap of selections.