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twitterECHL PLAYOFFS:
Aces shutter Wranglers’ season with convincing sweep
Stephen R. Sylvanie / Special to the Las Vegas Sun
Las Vegas Wranglers and Alaska Aces players shake hands at the conclusion of the National Conference finals at the Orleans Arena on May 14 with Alaska sweeping Las Vegas in four straight games.
Friday, May 15, 2009 | 1 a.m.
Playoff Schedule for National Conference finals
- Game 1: Las Vegas at Alaska on Saturday, May 9 (L: 2-0)
- Game 2: Las Vegas at Alaska on Sunday, May 10 (L: 4-1)
- Game 3: Alaska at Las Vegas on Tuesday, May 12 (L: 3-1)
- Game 4: Alaska at Las Vegas on Thursday, May 14 (L: 5-1)
Related stories
- Aces’ late goal bites Wranglers (5-12-09)
- Aces continue to stymie Wranglers in playoffs (5-11-09)
- Aces blank Wranglers in series opener (5-10-09)
- Wranglers ready to defend conference title against arch rival Aces (5-8-09)
- Wranglers cruise into conference finals (5-7-09)
- Stockton slams sluggish Wranglers (5-6-09)
- Wranglers maintain dominance at home (5-5-09)
- Wranglers even series in overtime thriller (5-3-09)
- Stockton storms past Wranglers (5-1-09)
- Wranglers blast Thunder to even series (4-28-09)
- Wranglers open division finals in disappointing fashion (4-24-09)
- Wranglers dominate Condors to advance to division finals (4-23-09)
- Wranglers rally to force Game 7 (4-22-09)
- Condors rip Wranglers in overtime (4-19-09)
- Wranglers blank Condors to even series (4-18-09)
- Wranglers squander lead, fall in overtime (4-16-09)
- Condors shock Wranglers with late rally (4-12-09)
- Wranglers grab early lead in playoffs (4-11-09)
Expanded hockey coverage
Cue the broom waiving Anchorage.
The Alaska Aces brought the Las Vegas Wranglers' season to a screeching halt with a voracious sweep of the National Conference finals Thursday night.
Alaska dominated an uninspired Las Vegas squad from the opening draw as the Aces cruised to a 5-1 victory in front of 3,723 fans at the Orleans Arena.
The Aces, who will face either South Carolina or Cincinnati in the Kelly Cup finals, are the first team ever to sweep the Wranglers, which is a good omen for Alaska since every team the Wranglers have lost to in the playoffs has gone on to capture the Kelly Cup.
"I have to take some of the blame here," said Las Vegas coach and general manager Glen Gulutzan. "I don't think we were as prepared as I thought. My approach to preparing them obviously wasn't good enough, because in the first period we really weren't ready to play."
The Wranglers struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the first period as they registered just six shots to the Aces' 16.
In what would eventually serve as the best illustrator of the night's fate, the Aces notched their first goal off an ill-advised turnover by Wranglers goalie Glenn Fisher that led to an easy score by Lance Galbraith with 4:59 remaining in the first period.
Alaska forward Matt Stefanishion extended that lead to 2-0 less than three minutes later with a monstrous slap shot from the left circle first the first of three Aces power play goals.
"You're down 3-0 in the series already and you get down 2-0 in the first and outplayed and it plays a real mental havoc with you," Gulutzan said. "We should have been better prepared."
Following the first intermission, the Aces shattered the Wranglers' spirits just 35 seconds in the second period as Colin Hemingway buried a feed from behind the net for the 3-0 advantage.
The Aces continued to ramp up the assault thanks to a power play goal by Luke Erickson at the 11:10 mark to sink the Wranglers into a 4-0 hole.
"We just didn't have the jump," Scott McCulloch said. "The other three times we were facing elimination we put up a great fight and got wins, but I can't put a finger on it tonight. It's always tough when you come out flat."
Even when Mike Hamilton managed to put the Wranglers on the scoreboard early in the third period with a shorthanded goal, the Aces answered right back two minutes later with an Alexandre Imbeault power play goal to seal the 5-1 victory and end the Wranglers' season.
"I think everyone would have liked to have a little more out there," Tyler Mosienko said. "It just seemed like whenever we got the puck they were right on top of us and we didn't have anywhere to go."
Alaska outscored the Wranglers 14-3 in the series as Aces goalie J.P. Lamoureux improved to 12-2 in the postseason with 25 saves.
"Lamoureux played great," McCulloch said. "You do have to give him credit. He made the stops he had to. I don't think we got to the net as well as we should have to create the traffic to get those dirty goals you need in the playoffs."
Stars of the game: 1. Colin Hemingway (1 goal, 1 assist); 2. J. P. Lamoureux (25 saves); 3. Alexandre Imbeault (1 goal, 2 assists)
Powerless play: The Wranglers' once potent power play failed once again Thursday with an 0-for-4 effort. Las Vegas did not score a single goal in 22 power play chances this series.
"I don't know what I'd change," Gulutzan said about his squad's maligned power play unit. "I spent more time trying to figure that out and prepare for this (penalty kill) than I did for any series prior. This felt like the more I did the less happened. I don't know what I would have done differently. Maybe I should have just done nothing."
Mosienko moving on: Gulutzan said he expects six or seven current Wranglers to return next season, but one player he knows will be moving up is Tyler Mosienko.
In 228 total games with the Wranglers, Mosienko has recorded 74 goals and 120 assists. The 25-year-old Manitoba native posted 48 points in 50 regular season games and six points in 12 playoff games this year.
"I really liked it here," Mosienko said. "(Gulutzan) is an awesome coach. We had a great group of guys every year. I really enjoyed my three years here. It was a great place to develop and play hockey. Looking back we won a lot of hockey games and we did a lot of good things. We moved forward as an organization and that's something you always want to do as a young guy at the start of your career."
Mosienko also made two stops in the American Hockey League this season with stints in Rockford and Manchester. He notched 15 points in 24 AHL games this season.
One scary rookie: Early in the third period J.D. Watt went on a rampage that led to his ejection from the game and 24 penalty minutes.
In the ensuing scrum, the newest Wrangler, 22-year-old McCulloch, tried to square off against Stefanishion. Stefanishion immediately dropped to the ice and covered his head in fear.
Stefanishion is 6-foot-3, 225 pounds, while McCulloch is 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, but then again, McCulloch was rocking one mean playoff beard.
"I've heard he's done that before," McCulloch said. "But if he doesn't want to fight, he doesn't want to fight. So I can't say anything about that. It's his choice. He's a big guy, so you'd think he want to. He's an agitator and as you can tell he does a good job of it, because he frustrates a lot of guys out there."
Power 'stache: Props go out to Alaska forward Colin Hemingway for growing one masterful mustache. It's not as good as Lanny McDonald's, but it is well on its way.
Beaudoin watch: Matt Beaudoin and the Houston Aeros prevailed 4-2 over the Milwaukee Admirals in game 7 of the AHL's West Division finals on Wednesday. The Aeros will now face the Manitoba Moose in the Western Conference finals of the Calder Cup playoffs.
American Conference update: The South Carolina Stingrays have a chance to eliminate the defending Kelly Cup champion Cincinnati Cyclones on Friday night. South Carolina leads the American Conference finals 3-0. A South Carolina vs. Alaska championship is going to log some serious frequent flyer miles.
Final word: "The whole time we knew that if we made playoffs we'd give it a good run," Mosienko said. "We are in the final four. It's disappointing, but we did pretty good. We obviously fell eight wins short of where we wanted to be though and nobody is satisfied with that."
Discussion: 22 comments so far…
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Congratulations to the Alaska Aces and all of their passionate fans for a well deserved trip to the finals. This sweep was no fluke as the better team clearly won. No excuses or sour grapes here. The Aces should win the Kelly Cup. Thank you Aces fans for making this such a great rivalry. Enjoy the finals, your team earned it!!!
Steve, we got off to a rocky start, but in the end, learned to appreciate each others comments and opinions. You do a great job and we all look forward to you coming back next year if a bigger paper doesn't snag you up. Have a great summer.
Looking forward to the Wranglers 7th season here. I am with the team no matter what the record. In general this team has always provided us with great entertainment value for our dollars and I for one am proud to be a fan.
Randolf, Winthorpe and all the Wrangler fans; I may have enjoyed the discussions on this fourm as much as the games. It certainly wasn't the series any of us expected but the rivalry is as lively as ever. Hope to make it down again next season for the games and I'll be sure to look you guys up when I do. Good work again Mr. Silver, I always like to read your stuff. Take care guys.
The only right thing to say now is "CONGRATULATIONS" to the Aces on the sweep and "CONGRATULATIONS" to the Wranglers on another successful season. To Debbie(code name in suspense) and Randolf, you've been very decent all year with your comments and you're classy fans. No one likes to see a season end this way, but the best team did win. I don't know if those two previous seven game series finally took a toll on the players, but Alaska has a very hot goalie right now and he may take them all the way. I was going to make a final comment on those other fans that I've written so much about this year, but it's time to let it go. Maybe they will look into the mirror and read their signs. Pierre, Grandpa, Stiffy.
Tickets to the game - $40, dinner before the game - $20, seeing Stephanishion curl up and cower in a fetal position - priceless.
Alaska, I hope the celebration went well into the morning, great year.
Steve, thanks for the coverage and the forum. I wish the Sun would include your stories in the RJ edition. Hockey fans have a great summer and see you in October when everyone is 0-0-0 agian.
Congrats to the Aces and thier fans. I wish them the best of luck in the finals. They were clearly the better team. If Alaska wins the cup then the streak will continue. We have lost to the eventual Kelly Cup champ every year we have made the playoffs.
Steve - I enjoyed reading your articles. There were some pretty heated discussions in here. It is nice to see the passion from the fans. Keep up the good work.
Withorpe - I bet you never mispell "stellar" again! By the way you owe me a dollar! I believe you picked Anahiem over Detroit :-)
Ditto, Section 213_L. I too greatly enjoy the hockey conversation here. And Steve Silver's work is always good. It's neat that you respond to posters, too.
We saw some incredible hockey this season between the Aces and Wranglers and I love the rivalry that has developed. I've made the trip down to the Orleans a number of times to cheer the Aces on and for the most part Wrangler fans are a pretty good group of people. They are as passionate and informed about their hockey as we are. Hopefully, some of you folks will have an opportunity to come up to Alaska next season with the Wranglers and experience the Sully.
Enjoy the summer.
Randolph, if you would like to make our usual bet, I will be glad to take the Pens over the Wings in the finals or we can just settle up now if you don't want to make that bet.
Scratch and Section,when you are here next year make sure you let us know, so we can tip a few after the games.
Congrats to the Aces for their stellar goaltending.
It truely was priceless to see Stephanishion covering his head, he likes starting things, but dang it, it would have been nice to see a better finish.
Good luck in the finals Aces. I look forward to seeing you all next year.
I have been up to the Sullivan arena. Interesting venue. One side is dry, the other is wet. Meaning you can drink alcohol on the wet side and can't on the dry side. It is an older building with true nosebleed seats. I look forward to making it back up there next season, God willing and the creeks don't rise.
Once again congrats, Aces.
P.S. Thanks Steve for giving us such great coverage of the Wranglers. I looked forward to seeing your column every morning.
And now I will look forward to seeing you and your articles in the fall.
Come on Steve!!! I'll agree Stefenishion ain't a fighter but he did throw one punch, he didn't just "Drop to the ground and cover his head." I know there isn't a lot of positive to speak of for the Vegas games and I do wish they would have won a couple and extended the series some because I like those guys, but, you're saying a guy tucked tail and ran (in most cases he does) but he did get at least one punch off before going down...
As another season comes to a close, the hardest part is knowing that some players that we've watched over the last few years and become attached to will not be back: Mosienko (as mentioned in the article), Limpright (5 seasons -just a guess he will not be back)and some others. Such is life in minor league hockey.
Steve Silver - thanks for your great coverage and humor, and please keep us up to date on Wranglers hockey during the summer as news comes to your desk.
Hey just wanted to give a big thanks to you all, the fans, for reading my stories this season and turning to the Sun for Wranglers coverage.
This message board certainly heated up and it has become a ton of fun for me and hopefully for all of you.
I'll be doing a few season wrap-up pieces in the coming days. I imagine this summer will be fairly busy with player personnel changes. Gulutzan said he knows most every move he will make, but he did not want to discuss them publicly so close to the season-ending loss. I'll keep a pulse on everything.
Winthorpe, you turned into one stellar captain of this message board. I really think you need get a Wranglers jersey for next season with "stellar" on the name plate.
Section213, Randolf, Vagman, Blackcat, LPN, thanks for the compliments. Once again, I do this for you all.
I know I'm rambling, but be sure to email or call me with any suggestions, complaints, story ideas, etc in the off-season and into next year.
On another note, I've never seen South Carolina play. Do you think they stand a chance against Alaska (assuming Stingrays don't blow a 3-game lead)
Thanks for the kind words Steve. I have not seen South Carolina play, but can't imagine them being better than the Aces. That was one heck of a performance by that Alaska team. Sometimes people can get down on teams that lose and not give the other team enough credit for being so good - which was clearly the case here. You know, like the RJ column today. They didn't even have the stones to let my comment detailing their own sports reporting short comings make it to their comment section. Almost every Wranglers story and/or column has errors in it and they have the nerve to rip the team. I could write a novel if I documented all of their mistakes!!!
Winthorpe, don't even get me started on that thing called a newspaper across town. My favorite is from the other day where they forgot a very crucial "one" from the headline in regards to the team's ouster.
I've said it before... call me out on my errors, because then I can change them. What is the point of leaving a story up that is wrong?
I hope more sports fans are starting to realize that the Sun is the place to turn for the best coverage.
I don't even know why I click on their website. It's a complete joke. I guess I just like to see all of the mistakes. Have a great summer Steve. Maybe me, you, Randolph and Debbie can tip a couple cold ones before the season gets started next year to compare notes and catch up. I am also betting Randolph our customary one dollar that the Penguins beat the Wings in the Stanley Cup finals.
I hope you're right about that bet. I'd love to see it.
Sounds good on the plan. Shoot me an email in a few weeks and we'll make it happen.
Steve, its nice to see you actually interact with the poeple on this forum. It's the same with our Hockey beat write Doyle Woody with the Anchorage Daily News. I write him a email and he writes me back. You have good coverage of your Wranglers and while I may not agree with you all the time It certainly makes for good conversation.
Wrangler fans be proud of your team and your coach. They had a great season with all changes that they went through throughout the season. I look forward to next season. I'm pretty sure we will have at least four of our regulars not return, so who knows what kind of team we will have next year, but that's what great about the EHCL.
C YALL NEXT SEASON!!!!
Hopefully we get to raise a banner at the first game of the season.
Thanks Puckster and good luck in the finals. I really do hope to have the chance to cover a Wranglers game in Anchorage one day.
Be sure its during the playoffs. Thats the best weather. Sunny and 60 degrees. You might need a parka though. Thats kind of cold for you Las Vegas people isn't it?
Interesting that you guys are talking about the other paper. Last fall I started regularly reading Wrangler news. I pretty much concluded in the first week that you have the better Wrangler coverage. It's not even close. Keep up the good work Mr. Silver.
Well its great to see this virtual handshake amongst the fans after the bitterness between rivals in the regular season as well as in the Conference Finals. I am a huge fan of this team, and have been since game 1 against Bakersfield back in 2003, and I am extremely pleased to see how Gully helped the Wranglers overcome some serious mid-season adversity, to give us not one, but two game 7 playoff victories this year. It's been fun working with you Silver, and can't wait for next season to roll around, it's not that far away (that's the beauty of making it deep into the playoffs, a shorter offseason)....just imagine what that playoff beard would look/feel like right now..
Thanks Scratch and yes lvshooter, that beard would be intense. The Wranglers broke out an army of razors in the locker room last night. It was a bit sad to see, but I also found some satisfaction in knowing some traditions will never die.