Wranglers skate the midnight shift … and score

Nick Christensen

Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2003 | 9:44 a.m.

The Wranglers' midnight hockey promotion proved to be a success at the gate after all.

An in-house crowd of just more than 2,000 turned out to this morning's game, about half of the announced paid attendance of 4,472, to see the Wranglers beat the Bakersfield Condors 3-2 on Jeff Attard's overtime goal to run their home record to 12-0-1.

"It's pretty cool. I didn't know what to expect," said Wranglers vice president Billy Johnson. "We're going to do it again. Countless people asked us if we were going to have another one."

The victory moved the Wranglers into sole possession of first place in the ECHL's Pacific Division. Overall, they are 16-6-4 in their inaugural season. The team's on-ice success has translated into encouraging numbers at the gate -- an average attendance of 4,773 -- but unfortunately for swing shifters, the Wranglers won't have another midnight hockey game this season. But look for a bigger, better overnight game next season, according to Johnson.

"In a city of 1.5 million people, I know 6,000 will come to a 12 a.m. game once a year during the holidays," Johnson said. "On noon of the day of the game, we had some of our best ideas we should have thought of."

Some of those ideas that the Wranglers are considering for next season include a pajama contest and a concourse sleepover for kids. Johnson said he was surprised by the number of children who came out to the late game.

Although the game was a success in the box office, front office, and the stands, it was received a little more coolly in the Wranglers' locker room.

"It wasn't so bad," Wranglers coach and general manager Glen Gulutzan said. "As a traditionalist, it wouldn't bother me if the game was at 7 o'clock."

But, he said, when the players hit the ice, the time didn't matter.

"Once we got going, you can't tell," he said. "Vegas is a city with no clocks anyways."

Las Vegas struggled offensively throughout the game, as Bakersfield outshot the Wranglers 40-21. But toward the end the third period, the Condors started to look sluggish on both ends of the ice -- sluggish enough to allow Eric Schneider to score off goaltender Brent Krahn's assist to put Las Vegas up 2-1.

Bakersfield tied the game with 1:11 left in regulation on Johan Astrom's 13th goal of the year. Two minutes into overtime, Attard's shot off the rebound of a Jason McBain miss propelled the Wranglers to a win. It was Attard's fifth goal of the season.

"We didn't play very well. I thought we got outworked," Gulutzan said. "Once again, good goaltending helped us. To be honest, I thought Bakersfield deserved a better fate."

The sluggish play and late hour made for some feisty hockey. The two teams combined for four fighting and two roughing penalties. Wranglers defenseman Jonathan Shockey tallied 21 penalty minutes, and sat out most of the second period after a fight with Bakersfield's Jason Ralph in the first.

Shockey said the mood on the ice had more to do with familiarity than exhaustion.

"Anytime you play a team that many times in a season, you start to get on each other's nerves," he said.

Wranglers center Greg Day, playing his first home game since being sent down from the Triple-A Lowell Loch Monsters, called the mood "grumpy."

Day assisted Chris Wheaton's first period goal to tie the game at 1-1. It was Day's 21st assist on the season, still best on the team despite spending more than a month away from the team.

"Once the game starts, you get in your normal routine," Day said of the late start. "(Bakersfield) came back from a trip, too -- both teams were pretty tired."

Day said he understood the need for new marketing ideas.

"If they want to experiment, it's fine. I can't get upset," he said. "But I'm not a big fan of it. I don't know that anybody is."

The Wranglers played after a tough Sunday trip from Anchorage. After losing Saturday night to the Alaska Aces, the team spent three hours at Anchorage's airport while their plane was de-iced, then missed their connecting flight at Seattle back to Las Vegas. Some on the team didn't make it back to Las Vegas until early Sunday evening, after 16 hours in airports or planes.

The Condors traveled Sunday also, on a much less trying trip from Boise, Idaho.

Shockey said the late hour really caught up with him in the penalty box, where he spent nearly half of Tuesday's game.

"Sitting in the penalty box, I had to keep my head in the game," Shockey said. "It's been a long couple of days for everybody, you could see it mentally."