A guy you want to play for

By Rob Miech

Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007 | 7:03 a.m.

Age: 35

Hometown: Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan

Family: Wife, Nicole; daughters, Emma and Brielle; son, Landon

As a player: Spent six seasons in Fresno, where he collected a team-record 110 points (30 goals, 80 assists) in 1996-97. He helped the Falcons win a West Coast Hockey League championship in 2001-02 also played in Finland and Sweden.

As a coach: He was a player-assistant coach his last four seasons in Fresno he is the only coach and general manager in the four-year history of the Las Vegas Wranglers he earned ECHL coach of the year honors last season, when the Wranglers finished 53-13-6 he was voted onto the National Conference all-star coaching staff by his peers last season.

Last week, Glen Gulutzan was forced to admonish the same bunch of hockey players whose stellar play this season had earned him a trip to his second consecutive all-star game tonight in Idaho.

A 3-1 defeat to Long Beach last Tuesday at the Orleans Arena was the Wranglers' third loss in four games. Worse, a coach who takes pride in how his team plays before its own fans lamented a second consecutive shoddy effort on home ice.

Gulutzan, who's also the Las Vegas general manager, vowed changes.

He showed the Wranglers 90 minutes of video from their poor efforts in those three losses. He demanded more intensity in the weight room. And the dressing room is now all-business, no-nonsense on game days.

The stereo and cell phones are now silent until after games, like last season. Gulutzan called it a warning shot.

"The next shot will be lethal," he says. "We'll make a change here to show that complacency and not working hard are unacceptable."

He didn't scream, he didn't shout and he didn't turn over the pizza table. The Wranglers responded with a 3-2 victory over Long Beach on Friday at the Orleans.

"I couldn't be (Dallas Cowboys coach) Bill Parcells or (Texas Tech basketball coach) Bobby Knight," he says. "That's not my personality. One thing I've learned is: Be yourself. If you're truly yourself, you'll get respect. As long as you're not a donkey, you'll get respect."

As is typical of Gulutzan, he also pointed a finger at himself. In coaching, he says, you can be complacent.

"I'm guilty of that," he says of not making needed changes earlier.

The Wranglers played 17 of their first 22 games on the road, and they went 11-1-5. That success, Gulutzan says, made him overlook the concerns he addressed last week.

He also noted that a handful of players have been playing injured.

"No one knows this team better than myself," Gulutzan says. "I know we're playing with some banged-up guys."

That honesty, according to team captain and veteran defenseman Mike McBain, is what endears his players to the man everyone in the franchise refers to as "Gully."

"He's a guy you really want to play for," McBain said. "He's just downright honest. That's something, I think, that's lacking in a lot of coaches and staff in all the leagues I've played in. It's definitely refreshing."

Gulutzan earned his spot in the all-star game by virtue of the Wranglers' 17-5-7 record, best in their conference, on Jan. 2. His blue-collar philosophy mirrors how he was raised in the 1,900-population logging community of Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan.

In his late teens and 20s, he did not enjoy returning to those sleepy roots. A family man whose wife, Nicole, is expecting their fourth child this summer, Gulutzan now relishes returning to his hometown.

It's where he once lost track of 2-year-old daughter Brielle at a fair. Within 20 minutes, an aunt of Nicole's returned the girl to her family after finding her wandering around downtown Hudson Bay.

"Everyone knows whose kid is whose," Gulutzan says. "That makes it easier."

Gulutzan was coached by his father, Eugene, for 15 years. But his first skate didn't go so well. Mavis, his mother, took him to the local rink. He begged for her to let his hand go. He skated along the boards with his left ankle, in flimsy leather, on the ice.

Eugene appeared, shrugged, then turned around and left.

These days, Eugene beams when he comes to Las Vegas, where the only boy of his four offspring runs the city's hockey team. Eugene even scouts for Glen, as he once did in Manitoba.

Glen and Nicole's parents grew up together in Hudson Bay. Glen first met her at 19. They met again, at their cousins' wedding, when he was 27. They've been together since.

He had been perplexed why she likes coming to Wranglers games, until last season. Suspended two games for a fight-filled game with Fresno that ended with him ripping off his tie and jacket, and challenging Falcons coach Matt Thomas to a fight, Gulutzan sat in the Orleans Arena stands for the first time.

He enjoyed the buzz and being around others who enjoyed free parking, affordable tickets and inexpensive concessions.

"On the bench, it's all business," Gulutzan says. "In the crowd, I saw how people let go after a day at work, having a beer and not worrying about how much it costs it's a good deal."

Nicole Gulutzan has been looking forward to the trip to Idaho for weeks. Deep down, so has her husband.

"I owe it to the players," he says. "They worked hard. We had lots of games on the road, and they did a good job for us. Twenty guys sent you there, and I told them that. I'm still happy for this hockey club."