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twitterBakersfield blasts Wranglers at home
Stephen Sylvanie / Special to the Sun
Bakersfield Condors come together in the second period to celebrate a power play goal scored by John de Gray (center) against the Wranglers on Thursday night.
Friday, Nov. 6, 2009 | 1 a.m.
With His Heart on His Sleeve
In his third season with the Wranglers, defenseman Jason Krischuk proves that at 29 years old, he still finds joy in the game.
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There must be something in the water or at least the $1 beers at the Orleans Arena on "Thirsty Thursday" nights this season.
For the third consecutive Thursday home game, the Las Vegas Wranglers lost by a margin of at least three goals as this week the Bakersfield Condors snagged a 4-1 victory in front of 3,274 fans.
"We have to come to play earlier in the week," said Wranglers defenseman Mike Madill. "We can't keep letting the Thursday ones get away like that."
Thursday's contest did not escape the Wranglers until the second period as the Condors snapped a 1-1 tie with three unanswered goals within four minutes.
Bakersfield monopolized possession of the puck all game, too, as the Condors out-shot the Wranglers 40-21.
"Giving up 40 shots is not acceptable and hopefully the guys in the room can figure that out," Las Vegas head coach and General Manager Ryan Mougenel said after the Wranglers fell to 2-4 at home. "We just played very uninspired and that is a direct reflection of me. I think I know how I have to be with them. We are a team that can't just put our sticks in and hope for good things to happen. We have to work and earn every inch of ice. When we aren't doing that we are giving up too many chances and just not competing."
Bakerfield center MacGregor Sharp scored the first goal of the night late in the first period as he buried a rebound at the 15:24 mark.
The Wranglers answered right back 1:16 later when Matt Watkins knocked in a rebound off of a shot by Andrew Orpik to tie the game 1-1.
The second period, though, proved disastrous for the Wranglers.
Condors forward Dan Sextion started the scoring binge off of a long wrist shot from the blue line for his fifth goal of the season just 5:22 into the period.
Less than two minutes later, Andrew Ianiero poked in a loose puck for a 3-1 Condors lead.
Shortly after that, John de Gray scored the only power play goal of the night to put Bakersfield on top 4-1 at the 9:28 mark of the second period.
Las Vegas went 0-for-5 on the power play while Bakersfield was 1-for-6.
"Everybody in here has to figure out what pushes them to make simple plays and get pucks by these guys," Madill said. "They have a big team. We have to make them move to get pucks by them. We are getting away from things that work. We are maybe trying to make things too complicated."
Losing at home is never easy, but Thursday's loss was even more frustrating since the Wranglers had just strung together two nearly flawless victories in Ontario on the weekend.
"It's called inconsistency," Mougenel said. "We had two great games on the road. I showed probably 15 minutes of video of all great things. I'll be honest with you, I couldn't find too many bad things in that Ontario game that we did. Tonight, I'd be shocked if I could find five minutes of good stuff."
Despite making 36 saves, Michael Ouzas drops to 4-2 while Bakersfield's Timo Pielmeier improves to 3-3 with 20 saves.
Stars of the game: 1. Dan Sexton (1 goal, 1 assist); 2. Shawn Weller (2 assists); 3. Stephane Goulet (2 assists)
Ultimate warrior: In his first game back in nearly two weeks, Las Vegas forward Kyle Hagel did not hesitate to drop his gloves to fire up his team.
At the 7:42 mark of the first period, the 6-foot, 205-pound Hagel squared off against 6-foot-4, 234-pound Condors forward Erick Lizon.
Lizon utilized his size advantage and landed a few solid shots to Hagel's face.
Hagel received stitches above his right eye, and his left eye was nearly swollen shut. His status and possible return to the ice is not yet known.
"Kyle Hagel goes out and does a job that not a lot of people would understand," Mougenel said. "It's a real tough job. He fights a guy heavier than him and my team doesn't respond. I have a tough time with that and I apologize to Kyle because he is a guy who will do anything to win and I'm disappointed with how we responded."
Adidas for all: After hearing that the University of Central Florida forfeited a $3 million endorsement deal with Adidas because Michael Jordan's son refused to wear Adidas shoes, Wranglers President and COO Billy Johnson decided on a clever marketing scheme.
Johnson has proposed forcing every Wranglers fan to wear Adidas shoes while inside the Orleans Arena in exchange for that $3 million deal.
"I thought, well, if they are paying $3 million to the university to have 15 people wear the shoes, I can get thousands of people here to wear Adidas shoes for the same money," Johnson said. "Sponsorship is supposed to move product. What would be more effective to get people wearing the shoes where you contract with a sports team that won't let thousands of people in unless they are wearing a certain brand of shoes?"
Johnson said he would provide all fans with Adidas shoes to complete the deal.
As of Thursday night, Adidas had not contacted Johnson.
Next up: The Wranglers (4-4) remain at home to host the Condors (5-5) Friday at 7:05 p.m. at the Orleans Arena
Final word: "Tomorrow is a new day," Mougenel said. "We have a lot of work ahead of us. We have to get our minds right. Is it beating the guys down? I don't think so. But guys have to look themselves in the mirror. The guys who didn't compete and contribute tonight know who they are."
Steve Silver can be reached at 948-7822 or steve.silver@lasvegassun.com.
Discussion: 20 comments so far…
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One word for this game.... outworked. Is that one word, lol?
Billy, I am ready with the shoes when you are, you know who I am - JD.
Any bloggers here that want to meet tomorrow at Drew's beer stand, let me know. Have a good Friday folks. The team will rebound. Let's enjoy it.
Winthrope - I will have a black Wrangler shirt and a black Wrangler hat. Between first and second...
I wonder are they using the first game against a team to feel them out? So far it appears that is what is happening with them. They seem to come in and if the other team is keeping them from playing their style of game during the first 10 minutes of the game they can't get in a groove for the entire first night. On the second night they come out and shake up the other team and get thing going for the night.
Or am I missing something?
Free shoes for Wranglers fans? I am there!
Vagman, I will be wearing a Sabres hoodie. See you later behind Drew outside of 106 in front of East side smoking balcony windows. I will also be there before game if anyone else wants to stop by.
This newspaper talked up this team during training camp; they have skill, speed, and youth. It was not there last night or last Thursday or opening night. I guess you cannot believe everything you read in the paper. I hope this season does not turn out like the 04-05 campaign.
Well...the youth was there. :)
Do they make Adidas in size 136?
Way too early to determine where they are at.
Duke, stop by and say hello before the game.
Bunotz...I 100 percent stand by all of that. You can't deny youth, the average age is 24-years-old.
You might not have seen the skill and speed last night, but it is there. That is why losing is so frustrating. The Wranglers have a bunch of high NHL draft picks and a number of ECHL/AHL veterans that are way better than what you saw last night.
The team is 4-4 and you are already throwing them and me under the bus? Wow, how can you root for any team at any level when a 4-4 start in a 72 game season makes you feel like this?
Amen to that Steve. I see a lot of skill level out there. Nobody ever seems to want to give the other teams credit when the Wranglers lose. Sometimes they have a clunker, but for the most part they compete and never offer excuses for losing. Utah beat them badly, then went into Bako and hung a 6 spot on them and came home and blasted an undefeated Idaho team the other night. Maybe Utah is just a good team. Of course we'll know for sure after the Wranglers play them 7 straight times starting next week.
I was surprised that the Wranglers could not expose the bigger, slower Bako players last night. Man that's a big team and you gotta love the heart that Hagel shows. Although I saw some stellar defensive play by the Condors. (Love those unis by the way). Also good to see Kyle Calder flying down the wing working his way back to the NHL some day I'm sure.
The best thing of all is that we have a spot to vent and offer our opinions and they will of course be varying, but that is the great part of blogs and the great part of even having this hockey team here in Vegas. No matter what it's always entertaining for me and quite frankly, if more fans attended just once, they would be hooked. Hope to see a big crowd tonight and I look forward to my new Adidas some day.
Steve,
If I was throwing the Wranglers under the bus I would have already sold my season tickets, I have not nor do I have plans to.
The Wranglers do have talent but so far they are not consistent. They seem to give up to early on the play or afraid to play the body.
It was a pleasure to watch Mike Madill play old fashion smash mouth hockey last night, he is probably sore today and probably some of the Bakersfield players he hit last night.
Hopefully the younger guys took note and it will inspire them. We will see tonight..
Winthorpe,
I agree about taking someone to a Wranglers game and they would be hooked. I took my son to his first Wranglers hockey game in 04 and he is now a hockey fanatic.
FYI.... did you know if you click on your profile at the top of this page where it says welcome, (profile name), you can upload pictures from Flickr and Facebook to your LV Sun profile. They came out small, but in this case gives people a way to indentify you when clicking on your profile link when you post a comment. Unless if course you don't want anyone knowing who you are - lol.
I did not know that, pretty cool feature. I hate the picture on my profile. Probably the worst shot of me ever.
Oh well, you all know how to get a hold of me
I also added my facebook page under stories/blogs page. What the heck, why not.
I agree that the talent is there--it's not like we're watching a team of guys who belong in a lower level league or anything like that. However, I think it IS fair to question leadership and being "ready to play". Mougenel has essentially done this by calling out the team in public at least twice. On the bright side, South Carolina won the Kelly Cup last season with a very young squad (I'm not going to go look it up, but I distinctly remember a story on ECHL.com during the championship series that chronicled the youth of the Stingrays). As I posted in the comments of yesterday's transaction story, I still believe that a veteran who can be looked at to lead the offense would be a great addition. I thought that this would be Stephenson, but that hasn't happened...at least not yet. As frustrating as last night's game may have been, things will suddenly look a lot better if we bounce back tonight and play the way we did in Ontario or in the final two games of the Alaska series. See y'all at the Arena......
Right on DMoney.
I expected Adam Miller to lead Watkins and Orpik as basically a nonstop scoring line. But they can't do it alone. Shay Stephenson is not the answer. You would think a guy with NHL experience would make more of an impact in games, but so far, not so much.
We'll see what happens tonight. Hopefully a decent crowd turns out for the food drive.
Shay has played 2 games in the NHL. I wouldn't call that experience. He is not a goal scorer. So far this season, he has been busy taking dumb penalties(On pace for a career high in that department). He would be best served in front of the net on the power play.
Yes...it's only two games of NHL experience, but he had proven he could play at a level higher than the ECHL. Shay also spent last season in the DEL--which is considered a solid Euro league. Add in his size and age, and I was expecting him be an impact player in the ECHL.