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2008–09 Las Vegas Wranglers season

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2008–09 Las Vegas Wranglers
League13th ECHL
Division2nd Pacific
Conference5th National
2008–09 record34-31-8
Home record22-12-2
Road record12-19-6
Goals for208
Goals against195
Team information
General managerGlen Gulutzan
CoachGlen Gulutzan
Alternate captainsSean Owens
Mike Madill
Chris Neiszner
ArenaOrleans Arena
Average attendanceAverage: 4,621
Capacity: 59.4%
Total: 166,358[1]
Team leaders
GoalsChris Ferraro (21)
AssistsShawn Limpright (31)
Adam Miller (31)
PointsTyler Mosienko (48)
Penalty minutesTim Spencer (196)
WinsJohn DeCaro (11)
Glenn Fisher (11)
Goals against averageJohn DeCaro (2.06)

The 2008–09 Las Vegas Wranglers season is the Las Vegas Wranglers sixth season in the ECHL. The regular season began on October 17, 2008 against the Alaska Aces and will conclude on April 4, 2009 against the Stockton Thunder.[2] The Wranglers will look to improve on their success from their 2007–08 season in which they won their second straight Pacific Division and National Conference regular season championships and their first appearance in the Kelly Cup Finals.

Pre-season

The Wranglers saw many changes during the offseason after the 2007–08 season, with the departures of Kelly Czuy, Jason Jozsa, and Tyson Strachan, who were picked up by teams from the American Hockey League, Bruce Mulherin who signed in Europe, and assistant coach Brent Bilodeau left the team to become head coach of the Wichita Thunder of the Central Hockey League[3] and was replaced by former Wranglers defenseman, Mike McBain.[4] The Wranglers entered the preseason with a roster of twenty-six players that would have to be cut down to twenty before the start of the regular season.[5] The Wranglers would play three pre-season games; two against the division rival, Bakersfield Condors and one against the newly relocated Ontario Reign. The first game against Bakersfield was on October 9 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas which was won, in a shootout, by the Wranglers 5–4 and the second game against the Condors was on October 11 at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield, which was also won by the Wranglers 5–2. The Wranglers finished their preseason against Ontario on October 12 at Center Ice Arena in Ontario, defeating the Regin 4–1, ending the preseason 3-0-0.

Regular season

See also: 2008–09 ECHL season

The Wranglers' regular season began on October 17 on the road against the Alaska Aces and their home opener was on October 23 against the Ontario Reign. The team concluded their season on April 4 with a 5–3 victory against the Stockton Thunder.

On December 22, 2008, the division rival Fresno Falcons folded in mid-season leaving only four teams in the National Conference's Pacific Division. Through the ECHL's rescheduling, the Wranglers and Ontario were given an extra game to play giving the two teams each 73 games, while Bakersfield and Stockton were left with the originally planned 72 games. With the unbalanced schedules, the ECHL decided to award the division's playoff spots and division seeding based on a team's winning percentage instead of the normal total points earned. With the original playoff format the top four teams in each division would qualify for the playoffs, but as the Pacific Division was left with only four teams, the ECHL announced that the fourth seed in the Pacific Division playoffs would be granted to either the 4th place team in the Pacific Division or the 5th placed team in the National Conference's West Division, depending on winning percentage. Stockton received the 4th seed in the Pacific Division playoffs after having a winning percentage of .493, besting the Phoenix RoadRunners's .451.

The Wranglers regular season was marred by inconsistency, due to a very inexperienced defense and an array of different goaltenders. The Wranglers would go through seven goaltenders during the season, of which only John DeCaro and Martin Houle had been signed to contracts with Las Vegas. Las Vegas saw numerous goaltenders sent down on assignment, including Matt Keetley and Kevin Lalande from Calgary, Brent Krahn from Dallas, and Glenn Fisher from Edmonton

The Wranglers finished just outside the top 10 in attendance at 11th, recording an average of 4,621 fans (166,358 total) in 36 games. The attendance figures were down considerable from the 2007–08 season, in which the Wranglers averaged 4,970 fans. As normal the Wranglers held numerous fan promotions including the sixth annual Wranglers Midnight Roundup on December 19, 2008 and the second annual Over-18 Night on March 24, 2009, featuring a performance form Mike Relm. The Wranglers were also recognized nationally for their Rod Blagojevich Prison Uniform Night. The game, which was played on January 30, 2009 between Las Vegas and the Bakersfield Condors, featured the Wranglers wearing uniforms based on classic horizontal black and white bee-striped uniforms, the Condors wearing uniforms based on the modern orange jumpsuits with black block lettering and the referees and linesmen wore prison guard inspired uniforms complete with black ties. The team also auctioned off a seat in between the two teams' benches. The promotion was inspired by the Rod Blagojevich federal corruption investigation, which included the former Illinois governor's attempt to auction off one of Illinois' seats in the United States Senate which was vacated after Barack Obama was elected as president of the United States.

During the second period of Aces-Wranglers game on March 25, 2009 in Las Vegas, when Alaska's Matt Stefanishion collided with Las Vegas' Chris Ferraro, breaking Ferraro's leg and effectively ending his season and possibly his career. Ferraro's twin brother, Peter became enraged and started a brawl that would involve nine players. During the melee, Peter Ferraro received a game misconduct penalty for spearing, as did Las Vegas' Tim Spencer for kicking. In the aftermath, the Aces were given a five-minute 5-on-3 power play in which they scored three times before the teams were at even strength.[6] A few days after the game, the ECHL suspended Peter Ferraro for the rest of the regular season and the entirety of the 2009 Kelly Cup Playoffs for his actions during the game which included the spearing incident[7] and was released by the team a week later.[8]

On January 29, 2009, the Wranglers unveiled a newly redesigned website, replacing the site which had been used since the 2005-06 season.

Standings

Division standings

Pacific Division GP W L T GF GA Pts Pct.
y-Ontario Reign 73 38 29 6 197 218 82 .562
x-Las Vegas Wranglers 73 34 31 8 208 196 76 .521
x-Bakersfield Condors 72 33 31 8 246 263 74 .514
x-Stockton Thunder 72 32 33 7 210 237 71 .493
Fresno Falcons * 30 18 10 2 82 82 38 .633

*Fresno folded on December 22, 2008.

Game log

Regular season

  Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)

2008–09 game log

Playoffs

See also: 2009 Kelly Cup Playoffs

The Wranglers clinched their fourth straight playoff appearance on March 30.[9] The Wranglers finished second in the Pacific Division granting the team home-ice advantage for the Pacific Division semifinals against the third-seed Bakersfield Condors, the first time the two teams had met in the playoffs. The two teams would split the first two games of the series in Las Vegas, and Bakersfield would take two of the three games on their home ice, taking a 3 games to 2 series lead before the Wranglers took the final two games 3–1 and 5–1 to win the series 4 games to 3.

The Wranglers took on the fourth seeded Stockton Thunder, who upset the Pacific Division champion Ontario Reign 4 games to 3. The Wranglers and Stockton have met once in the playoffs during the 2008 National Conference Quarterfinals, Las Vegas won the series in six games. Due to conflicts with the schedules of the Orleans Arena, the first, third and fourth games were played at Stockton Arena and games two, five, six and seven would be played in Las Vegas. The home teams would win the first three games as Stockton won game one and three, while Las Vegas won game two on their home ice. Stockton had the opportunity to put the Wranglers on a razor edge in game four in Stockton, but were unable to score in overtime, the goal falling to Las Vegas' Mick Lawrence (unassisted) 28 seconds into overtime tying up the series for the Wranglers. Las Vegas would take game 5, but blundered their chance to put the Thunder away in game 6, falling 3 – 1. Las Vegas would make sure to not choke the series away, jumping to a 4 – 0 lead by the third minute of the third period and finishing of Stockton 5 – 1 to win the series 4 games to 3.

The Wranglers took on their most heated rival and National Conference regular season champion, the Alaska Aces, in the National Conference Finals. Alaska and Las Vegas have met twice in the playoffs. The first was in the 2006 West Division Finals in which Las Vegas and Alaska played a long, hard fought series that ended after the Aces subdued the Wranglers in the third overtime of the sixth game of the series; Alaska would go on to win their lone Kelly Cup championship, defeating the Gwinnett Gladiators in five games. Las Vegas would get their playoff revenge in the 2008 National Conference Semifinals defeating Alaska in five games, defeating the Aces by an average of four goals in their four wins in the series, Las Vegas would go onto their lone Kelly Cup appearance, falling to the Cincinnati Cyclones in six games. After playing two straight 7-game series, the Wranglers were unable to put up much of a fight against the National Conference regular season champions and were swept in four games.

2009 Kelly Cup Playoffs

Player stats

Skaters

    Regular season   Playoffs
# Player GP G A Pts +/- PIM GP G A Pts +/- PIM
14 Tyler Mosienko 50 18 30 48 22 83 1 0 0 0 0 0
13 Chris Ferraro 64 21 25 46 14 119 - - - - - -
81 Adam Miller 54 13 31 44 8 41 4 1 5 6 5 6
22 Chris Neiszner 70 20 21 41 14 38 4 0 1 1 -1 0
26 Shawn Limpright 54 9 31 40 7 82 4 0 1 1 -3 27
19 Mick Lawrence 38 16 18 34 4 85 3 1 0 1 -1 7
17 Peter Ferraro ‡ 52 16 14 30 0 73 - - - - - -
18 Justin Taylor 36 13 17 30 12 15 4 0 2 2 -2 0
15 Kelly Czuy 39 9 18 27 5 46 7 4 5 9 6 16
9 Mike Madill 72 6 20 26 7 50 3 0 1 1 -3 2
44 Hugo Carpentier 45 9 15 24 1 33 3 0 2 2 0 0
7 Sean Owens 54 4 17 21 -2 66 4 1 0 1 2 2
24 Bret Tyler 56 2 16 18 6 28 3 0 0 0 4 2
16 Matt Beaudoin ♦ 15 10 6 16 5 10 - - - - - -
37 J.D. Watt 18 5 9 14 -1 51 - - - - - -
10 Mike Hamilton 22 6 6 12 3 43 2 1 1 2 0 5
11 Dan Spang 17 2 10 12 5 10 2 1 2 3 2 2
8 Jason Dest 62 3 8 11 18 83 3 0 0 0 -4 9
11 Dan Riedel † 17 4 7 11 5 8 7 4 4 8 6 16
32 Jeff May ‡ 23 4 6 10 1 21 - - - - - -
28 Scott MuCulloch 8 5 4 9 3 15 4 1 1 2 -1 2
21 Tim Spencer 51 4 4 8 -3 196 - - - - - -
4 Chris St. Croix † 43 1 6 7 10 33 4 0 2 2 5 8
6 Steve Makway † 47 1 5 6 9 130 4 1 0 1 2 9
12 Kevin DeVergilio 2 2 2 4 1 2 - - - - - -
24 Gerard Miller ‡ 9 0 4 4 7 21 - - - - - -
7 Chris Korchinski ‡ 9 2 1 3 1 2 - - - - - -
2 Brandon Straub 49 1 2 3 5 127 3 0 0 0 1 2
12 Mat Robinson ‡ 4 1 1 2 3 2 - - - - - -
20 P.J. Atherton ‡ 5 1 1 2 2 4 - - - - - -
10 Garrett Regan 2 0 2 2 1 0 - - - - - -
37 Rob Ricci ‡ 4 0 2 2 2 4 - - - - - -
11 Gord Baldwin ♦ 3 0 1 1 3 23 - - - - - -
16 Cody Lampl ‡ 3 0 1 1 -1 0 - - - - - -
28 Ray Leroux ‡ 3 0 1 1 1 7 - - - - - -
14 Jim Jorgensen ‡ 4 0 1 1 0 2 - - - - - -
10 Matt McKnight ‡ 4 0 1 1 0 4 - - - - - -
37 John Schwarz ‡ 4 0 1 1 -3 8 - - - - - -
4 Michael Beynon ‡ 6 0 1 1 4 4 - - - - - -
19 Brandon Kaleniecki ‡ 1 0 0 0 1 2 - - - - - -
33 Bryan Bridges (G) ‡ 2 0 0 0 n/a 0 - - - - - -
16 Travis Kauffeldt ‡ 2 0 0 0 -2 0 - - - - - -
32 Jimmy Kilpatrick ‡ 2 0 0 0 0 4 - - - - - -
28 Steve Oleksy ‡ 2 0 0 0 1 0 - - - - - -
10 Ray Ortiz ‡ 2 0 0 0 -2 0 - - - - - -
38 Martin Houle (G) ‡ 3 0 0 0 n/a 0 - - - - - -
29 Dan Ryder ‡ 4 0 0 0 -1 15 - - - - - -
29 Micah Sanford ‡ 4 0 0 0 0 4 - - - - - -
35 Brent Krahn (G) ‡ 6 0 0 0 n/a 0 - - - - - -
1 Matt Keetley (G) ‡ 7 0 0 0 n/a 2 - - - - - -
12 Steve Brudzewski ‡ 8 0 0 0 -2 2 - - - - - -
1 John DeCaro (G) ‡ 21 0 0 0 n/a 4 2 0 0 0 n/a 0
38 Kevin Lalande (G) ‡ 21 0 0 0 n/a 12 - - - - - -
35 Glenn Fisher (G) † 24 0 0 0 n/a 0 2 0 0 0 n/a 0

†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Wranglers. Stats reflect time with the Wranglers only.
‡Denotes player is no longer with the Wranglers.
♦Denotes player is on call up in either the AHL or NHL
Bold/italics denotes franchise record

Goaltenders

    Regular season   Playoffs
# Player GP MIN W L T GA SO SV% GAA GP MIN W L GA SO SV% GAA
1 John DeCaro 21 1020 11 7 0 35 2 .929 2.06 3 196 1 2 10 1 .913 3.07
35 Glenn Fisher † 20 1156 11 7 1 44 2 .930 2.28 4 238 3 1 6 0 .953 1.51
38 Kevin Lalande ‡ 21 1181 9 8 2 47 3 .925 2.39 - - - - - - - -
1 Matt Keetley ‡ 7 429 1 3 1 19 0 .930 2.66 - - - - - - - -
38 Martin Houle ‡ 3 178 1 2 0 9 0 .845 3.03 - - - - - - - -
35 Brent Krahn ‡ 6 342 1 4 0 23 0 .874 4.04 - - - - - - - -
35 Bryan Bridges ‡ 2 91 0 0 1 7 0 .854 4.63 - - - - - - - -

Awards and records

Awards

ECHL
Award Recipient
All-Star Game representative Jeff May
All-Star Game representative Justin Taylor
Rbk ECHL Goaltender of the Week (Mar. 9-15) Glenn Fisher

Records

Transactions

The Wranglers have been involved in the following transactions before and during the 2008–09 season.

Trades

June 18, 2008
 To Las Vegas Wranglers
Gerard Miller 		To Phoenix RoadRunners
Completes earlier trade
October 23, 2008
 To Gwinnett Gladiators
Brandon Kaleniecki 		To Las Vegas Wranglers
Future considerations
October 23, 2008
 To Cincinnati Cyclones
Jimmy Kilpatrick 		To Las Vegas Wranglers
Future considerations
October 31, 2008
 To Gwinnett Gladiators
Jim Jorgensen 		To Las Vegas Wranglers
Future considerations
November 8, 2008
 To Idaho Steelheads
Matt McKnight 		To Las Vegas Wranglers
Future considerations
November 16, 2008
 To Cincinnati Cyclones
Martin Houle 		To Las Vegas Wranglers
Future considerations
November 19, 2008
 To Elmira Jackals
Chris Korchinski 		To Las Vegas Wranglers
Chris St. Croix
November 19, 2008
 To Reading Royals
Gerard Miller 		To Las Vegas Wranglers
Future considerations
December 9, 2008
 To Las Vegas Wranglers
Steve Makway 		To Cinicnnati Cyclones
Completes earlier trade
February 25, 2009
 To Las Vegas Wranglers
Dan Riedel 		To Dayton Bombers
Future considerations

Other transactions

Date Player Team (League)
Signed via free agency
August 5, 2008 Bret Tyler Univ. of Maine (NCAA)
August 26, 2008 Matt Beaudoin Dayton (ECHL)
September 12, 2008 John DeCaro Bossier-Shreveport (CHL)
September 17, 2008 Brandon Straub Johnstown Chiefs (ECHL)
September 17, 2008 Jim Jorgensen Ferris State Univ. (NCAA)
September 30, 2008 Chris Neiszner Morzine-Avoriaz (LM)
October 2, 2008 Mike Hamilton Gwinnett (ECHL)
October 2, 2008 Michael Beynon Idaho (ECHL)
October 2, 2008 Tim Spencer Alaska (ECHL)
October 2, 2008 Matt McKnight Univ. of Minnesota-Duluth (NCAA)
October 8, 2008 Jimmy Kilpatrick Colorado College (NCAA)
October 8, 2008 Chris Korchinski Laredo (CHL)
October 11, 2008 Mick Lawrence Univ. of Nebraska-Omaha (NCAA)
October 22, 2008 Martin Houle Wheeling (ECHL)
November 3, 2008 Jeff May Lethbridge (WHL)
Lost via free agency
June 7, 2008 Daniel Manzato Carolina (NHL)
July 19, 2008 Kelly Czuy Springfield (AHL)
July 25, 2008 Bruce Mulherin Manchester (EIHL)
July 27, 2008 Ryan Donally Anaheim (NHL)
August 3, 2008 Tyson Strachan Peoria (AHL)
August 4, 2008 Jason Jozsa Grand Rapids (AHL)
November 6, 2008 Jason Krischuk Corpus Christi (CHL)
— Aki Seitsonnen Quad City (AHL)
— Kevin Lalande Calgary (NHL)
— Aaron Power Heilbronner Falken (2.GBun)
— Adam Cracknell Quad City (AHL)
— Curtis Fraser Peoria (AHL)
Retirement
— — —
Remain unsigned
— Gerry Burke —
— Marco Peluso —
Re-signed
July 25, 2008 Tyler Mosienko —
August 5, 2008 Mike Madill —
August 13, 2008 Jason Dest —
August 13, 2008 Brandon Kaleniecki —
September 4, 2008 Adam Miller —
October 9, 2008 Chris Ferraro —
October 9, 2008 Peter Ferraro —
October 17, 2008 Shawn Limpright —
— Sean Owens —

Affiliates

The Wranglers continued their affiliation with the Calgary Flames for a sixth year, having been affiliated with Calgary since their inaugural season in 2003. As of December 14, the Flames have assigned four prospects to Las Vegas during the season, winger J.D. Watt, centres Hugo Carpentier and Dan Ryder, defenceman Gord Baldwin, and the return of goaltender Kevin Lalande.[10]
The Wanglers enter its second season with an affiliation with the Quad City Flames. Former Wranglers that are starting the season with Quad City include, Aki Seitsonen and Adam Cracknell.

Roster

Las Vegas Wranglers 2009 Kelly Cup Playoffs Roster
Goaltenders
  • 1 – John DeCaro 
  • 35 – Glenn Fisher 


Injured Reserve

  • 21 – Tim Spencer 

Defencemen

  • 2 – Brandon Straub 
  • 4 – Chris St. Croix 
  • 6 – Steve Makway 
  • 7 – Sean Owens  - A
  • 8 – Jason Dest 
  • 9 – Mike Madill  - A
  • 11 – Dan Spang 
  • 24 – Bret Tyler 

Forwards

  • 10 – Mike Hamilton 
  • 11 – Dan Riedel 
  • 15 – Kelly Czuy 
  • 18 – Justin Taylor 
  • 19 – Mick Lawrence 
  • 22 – Chris Neiszner 
  • 26 – Shawn Limpright  - C
  • 28 – Scott McCulloch 
  • 37 – J.D. Watt 
  • 44 – Hugo Carpentier 
  • 81 – Adam Miller 

On Call Up

  • 14 – Tyler Mosienko 
  • 16 – Matt Beaudoin 
  • 21 – Tim Spencer 

See also

References

  1. ^ "Attendance Report". ECHL.com. 2009-04-05. Archived from the original on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ Fisher, Josh (April 30, 2008). "Wranglers Announce 2008-09 Schedule". Las Vegas Wranglers. Archived from the original on June 9, 2008. Retrieved May 1, 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Fisher, Josh (June 19, 2008). "Brent Bilodeau Hired By Wichita (CHL)". Las Vegas Wranglers. Archived from the original on October 24, 2008. Retrieved September 11, 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Fisher, Josh (September 9, 2008). "McBain Named Assistant Coach". Las Vegas Wranglers. Archived from the original on 17 September 2008. Retrieved September 11, 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) [dead link‍]
  5. ^ Dewey, John (October 9, 2008). "Wranglers to host Condors today to open preseason". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Archived from the original on 16 November 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Silver, Steve (March 25, 2009). "Emotions boil over as Aces sink Wranglers". Las Vegas Sun. Archived from the original on 2009-06-10. Retrieved April 14, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Silver, Steve (March 27, 2009). "Peter Ferraro suspended for season". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
  8. ^ "Wranglers Shuffle Roster". Las Vegas Wranglers. April 2, 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-06-10. Retrieved April 14, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Silver, Steve (March 30, 2009). "Wranglers clinch playoff spot despite recent losses". Las Vegas Sun. Archived from the original on 2009-06-02. Retrieved April 1, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Fisher, Josh (October 22, 2008). "Former Philadelphia Flyer Netminder Joins Las Vegas". Las Vegas Wranglers. Archived from the original on 24 October 2008. Retrieved October 23, 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) [dead link‍]
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