Same old story for Wranglers against Aces

Nick Christensen

Wednesday, April 6, 2005 | 9:26 a.m.

Frustrated by another one-goal loss, Wranglers coach Glen Gulutzan looked at reporters after the game and asked if they could just copy quotes from a game earlier this season.

The script was more or less the same in Tuesday's 3-2 loss to the Alaska Aces in front of a crowd of 3,829 at the Orleans Arena, including a whole section of Aces fans. A 10-minute lull to start the game followed by 50 minutes of decent hockey.

Whether it was the Calgary Flames assistant coaches watching from the stands or the on-ice presence of NHL all-star Scott Gomez, the Wranglers did not look ready to play at the start of the game.

Gomez and the Aces capitalized, with the New Jersey Devils' all-star logging his 70th and 71st assists of the season to help put Alaska up 2-0. The ECHL record for assists in a season is 93, set by Knoxville's Dan Gauthier in 1990.

Alaska clinched a share of the Western Division title, and another point will lock them as the National Conference regular-season champions.

After signing autographs and taking young fans to visit the Aces locker room, Gomez said the title-clinching experience is always fun.

"When you're raised in the Devils' system, you're brainwashed into doing this," Gomez said. "(Clinching) doesn't mean anything, but at the same time, it's nice to clinch first."

It wasn't that the Wranglers didn't try, but Matt Dzeiduszycki's two goals just came too late. Alaska was already up 3-1 when Dzeiduszycki scored with just less than five minutes to go.

A hard charge by the Wranglers in 82 seconds of empty net wasn't enough to get Las Vegas into overtime. Jeff Attard's shot with two seconds left looked like it would send the game into overtime, but it was waved off and Dzeiduszycki said the puck stopped on the goal line.

Alaska's Peter Aubry logged 42 saves.

"I shouldn't say this looked like every other game," Gulutzan said. "They just should have stuck to their game plan. Don't veer from the game plan. We had a few key points we're trying to establish; I just wanted guys to get back into the game plan."

After Dzeiduszycki's first goal, the Wranglers seemed to play with a little more fire. And rookie Adam Huxley tried to dim the Aces' spark, engaging Gomez at close range with taunts and jabs in an effort to get Gomez off the ice and into the penalty box.

"Huxley's an agitator. That's his job," Gulutzan said. "Obviously Gomez is their best player. Guys play him with a lot of respect, maybe too much so. That's the nature of it."

Gomez said he was particularly miffed at Huxley's wide grin after he drew an elbowing penalty in the second period.

"That's part of the game," Gomez said. "The kid played hard ... he sucked me in, and he did his job.

"At the same time ..." Gomez shrugged as the thought trailed off.

Huxley, who has played the agitator role all season for Las Vegas, said the goal was just to get any advantage on Gomez he could.

"To get them off their game, if a proven player doesn't do too much, it gives us a better chance," he said.

And doing it against an NHL all-star is that much more fun.

"It's fun getting under a guy's skin," he said. "He's a key player on the other team. I shouldn't have hit him like I did in the third period."

That hit put Alaska on a brief 5-on-3 that the Wranglers successfully killed, another great stretch in a well-played third period.

Gulutzan made a special point to complement Dzeiduszycki's effort after being traded from playoff-contender Augusta to second-to-last Las Vegas.

"He's worked hard for us," Gulutzan said. "To come across to a non-playoff team and play his (rear) off, it's a good sign of his character."

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