Wranglers’ red-hot start is reaping its rewards

Nick Christensen

Thursday, Nov. 6, 2003 | 10:14 a.m.

So much for a learning curve.

Rookie head coach and general manager Glen Gulutzan's Las Vegas Wranglers Wednesday laid claim to two of the ECHL's player of the month awards for October, and a third major announcement is expected to be made today.

The Wranglers' Justin Kelly earned the Plus Performer of the Month award, given to the player with the best plus-minus numbers on the ice. Goalie Marc Magliarditi rounded up the ECHL's Saver of the Month, after going 5-0-0 in October with a 1.98 goals against average.

The league will make it a Wranglers hat trick today when it announced that center Greg Day was the ECHL player of the month.

Day was the runner-up for the plus-minus award.

"I'm not much of an individual awards guy, but that's great for those guys," Gulutzan said after the Wranglers 2-1 win against the Alaska Aces Wednesday night at the Orleans Arena. in front of an announced crowd of 3,094. "Let's see if they can do it again next month."

With the win, the Wranglers improved to 7-1-2 on the year.

Kelly, who left the game early after bruising his knee on a hard hit to the boards, said that he wasn't expecting to win the award.

"I've always had bad minuses, so this is a good change for me," Kelly said. "Defense at this level is a big part of the game. I'm working hard on being a two way player."

Plus-minus is a hockey statistic that some believe indicates how well a team performs when a player's on the ice. If a player's team scores a goal while he's on the ice, he gets a point. If the opponent scores, he loses one.

"There's some things you can't control," Kelly said. "You play a good game, the team's off to a great start, and good things happen when you're winning."

Minding the net, Magliarditi was awarded for a phenomenal October. He tied for the league lead in saves, ranked fifth in save percentage, and 12th in goals against average.

"I had a feeling I'd be in the running," Magliarditi said. "Some guys were probably close."

Perhaps most surprising about the accolades is that this team is an expansion franchise, put together by the rookie GM Gulutzan.

"I didn't know what to expect," Magliarditi said. "From day one, we saw we had a team that would compete and do well."