Citing the poor economy, the Chicago Shamrox have suspended operations for the upcoming 2009 National Lacrosse League season, a mere two weeks before the team was to have opened the season against Rochester.

"Like many of our loyal fans, I am disappointed with the decision to suspend operations for the 2009 season," Shamrox president Phil Ryan said in a written statement.

"I would like to thank all those that supported the Shamrox these past two years," Ryan continued. "Professional indoor lacrosse is a great sport and Chicago deserves to have a team. I hope we get a chance to do it again."

The explanation of a down economy contradicts earlier reports that while the team's finances were on better footing than in its 2007 inaugural season, ownership was finding it difficult to run the team from afar and that the club was for sale. Investors were based in Los Angeles and Atlanta.

A dispersal draft was quickly conducted Friday afternoon to allocate the Shamrox' players. The expansion Boston Blazers selected goaltender Anthony Cosmo first overall, followed by Scott Self to Edmonton and Bill McGlone to Toronto.

"Anthony Cosmo is one of the NLL’s best goalies and a proven difference maker in this league," Blazers head coach Tom Ryan said. "The combination of Cosmo with Mike Poulin gives us one of the strongest goalie tandems in the NLL."

Mike Kirk (Rochester) and Tom Montour (Calgary), selected fourth- and fifth-overall, were quickly dealt to San Jose and Buffalo, respectively, each for a first-round pick in the 2010 NLL Entry Draft.

Several teams bowed out after just one round, while only Boston, Edmonton and Rochester drafted past the second. The Knighthawks were the only team participating in rounds four and five.

Complete draft results follow.

##  TEAM                SELECTION 
--  ------------------  --------------------------
 1  Boston              Anthony Cosmo
 2  Edmonton            Scott Self
 3  Toronto             Bill McGlone
 4  Rochester           Mike Kirk
 5  Calgary             Tom Montour
 6  Colorado            Brad Self   
 7  San Jose            Steve McKinlay   
 8  Philadelphia        Mat Giles
 9  New York            Josh Funk 
10  Minnesota           Kevin Fines   
11  Portland            Kevin Leveille   
12  Buffalo             Cody Jacobs

13  Boston              Geoff Griffiths   
14  Edmonton            Callum Crawford
15  Toronto             Josh Wasson
16  Rochester           Bobby McBride   
17  Colorado            Steven Brooks   
18  San Jose            Jake Byrne   
19  New York            Peter Striebel
20  Minnesota           Drew Candy
21  Buffalo             Cory Stringer

22  Boston              Carter Livingstone   
23  Edmonton            Darryl Gibson
24  Rochester           Craig Robertson

25  Rochester           Pat Saunders

26  Rochester           Brock Boyle