Playoff excitement building

Steve Marcus

Wranglers left wing Marco Peluso says the Wranglers have carved out a niche in Las Vegas.

By Rob Miech (contact)

Thursday, May 29, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Steve Marcus

Shawn Limpright

As veteran Wranglers Shawn Limpright and Marco Peluso inch closer to lifting the first ECHL championship trophy in the five-year history of the Las Vegas franchise, they are content with a stark realization:

These are likely the golden days in their careers.

Limpright, 26, thinks some young Wranglers can develop into National Hockey League material. He wasn’t exactly referring to himself.

Peluso, 27, questions whether he will reach the American Hockey League, the level between the ECHL and the NHL.

“Maybe I’ll end my career in Europe,” he says. “But I’m comfortable here and I really want to win a championship for this city.”

They are the most tenured Wranglers. They bought into coach and general manager Glen Gulutzan’s blue-collar blueprint and have helped nurture its success.

They have invested the most time trying to turn Las Vegas, tied with Cincinnati at a game apiece in the ECHL Kelly Cup finals, into a hockey title town.

Both spent considerable stretches on the shelf this season with injuries but boosted the Wranglers in playoff victories over Alaska and Utah.

We’re healthy at the right time, Limpright says. Maybe it’s a little advantage, being so fresh when it matters most, Peluso says.

Not so long ago, both thought the only ice in Las Vegas chilled the martini tumblers and highballs of casino high rollers.

“I didn’t even know they had hockey here until the past three or four years,” Peluso says. “It’s exciting for me. Such a great city.”

Limpright landed here first. Disgruntled in cellar-dwelling Dayton, the country boy from St. Adolphe, Manitoba, was granted a trade in January 2005.

He was shell-shocked.

“From a small town in Canada to Las Vegas? To play hockey?” Limpright says. “Las Vegas has been real good to me. I’ve treated the people here well and they’ve treated me well. I’d love to give this city a championship.”

In December 2005, the 5-foot-11, 185-pound left wing set a Wranglers record with 28 penalty minutes in a game against San Diego.

He remembers jousting with a few Gulls early. He got called into a fight. He was whistled for a few minor infractions, then capped the evening with a 10-minute major.

“I was running my mouth a little bit, the usual stuff,” Limpright says. “I wouldn’t say I’m proud of that part of the game, but I’m not ashamed of it. It’s just the way I play.”

Seventy-one days after Limpright, Peluso arrived here after finishing his career at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Peluso’s agent also steered two college teammates to Nevada, although Tim Hambly moved up to the AHL and Evan Schwabe plays in Finland.

Las Vegas overwhelmed Peluso, a left wing from Bovey, Minn. So did the hockey. The Wranglers missed the playoffs. They lost to the eventual Kelly Cup champions in 2006 and 2007.

Now Peluso thinks the Wranglers have carved out a niche of their own in the entertainment capital of the world. He certainly has.

As they do during games, half of the group that gave the team a red-carpet send-off to Cincinnati last week serenaded him with “Marco,” and the other half responded with “Peluso” — a la Marco Polo in the swimming pool — when Peluso walked by.

“We’re like other entertainers,” Peluso says. “I think the fans are as excited about this as we are. I’d like to see that excitement for the whole city.”