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Stephen Sylvanie / Special to the Sun
Wranglers forward Greg Collins streaks ahead of Reign center Tim Kraus for a third-period breakaway Saturday night at the Orleans Arena.
Published Saturday, April 3, 2010 | 11:43 p.m.
Updated Sunday, April 4, 2010 | 12:54 a.m.
Sun Coverage
The Las Vegas Wranglers and Ontario Reign played each other for roughly 20 percent of the 2009-10 season.
For the first 18 percent of those games, Las Vegas earned a point, failing to lose in regulation to Ontario in 13 games.
But it’s the final 1.4 percent that will possibly keep the Wranglers from getting home-ice advantage in the opening round of the ECHL playoffs.
Saturday night, in their 14th meeting of the season, the Reign defeated the Wranglers, 7-1, in a game that eliminated Las Vegas’ option to play the first two games or the final three games of the first round at home.
“To give up seven goals is disappointing,” head coach Ryan Mougenel said.
“We knew we needed a win,” he said. “You have to go into the opponent’s building and win one anyway. We’re up for the challenge.”
Three first-period goals by Ontario put the Wranglers in an early hole, which they couldn’t climb out of.
Defenseman Colten Teubert scored his first professional goal nearly seven minutes in to open the scoring for Ontario.
Teubert was the 13th overall pick of the Los Angeles Kings in the 2008 NHL Entry draft.
His goal was assisted by Chris Curran and followed up by back-to-back goals from right-winger Geoff Walker and forward Greg Hogeboom.
Hogeboom’s goal was his 32nd of the season. It came on a deflected point shot from Teubert that eluded Wranglers goalie Joel Gistedt.
Ontario defenseman Mike Egener added a goal in the second period on a blast from the point, and the Reign added three goals in the third period, including the professional firsts of centers Jordan Nolan and C.J. Stretch.
Chad Starling capped Ontario’s night by scoring his first goal of the season with 1:01 left on the clock.
Center Justin Bernhardt scored the only Las Vegas goal of the night, a slap shot that found the five-hole of Reign goalie Mike Zacharias.
“I’m extremely proud of the way the team has responded all year,” Mougenel said. “Obviously, this isn’t the way you want to end the season, but we’re coming off two very emotional wins and we’ll chalk it up to that.”
Captain Chris Neiszner, defenseman Craig Switzer and center Josh Prudden were all healthy scratches for Las Vegas.
Three stars: 1. Ontario’s Mike Zacharias (27 saves); 2. Ontario’s Geoff Walker (goal, two assists); 3. Colten Teubert (goal, assist).
Super save: Down four goals with just under 12 minutes to play, a sprawling John Schwarz denied Hogeboom an open net. After faking a point-blank slap shot, the Ontario forward deked Gistedt, only to be denied by Schwarz.
Injury report: Center Adam Miller and right-winger Alex Bourret were injured in the second period and did not return for the third period. “They’re fine,” Mougenel said of the injured players.
Playoff schedule: The Wranglers are slated to begin postseason play on Tuesday, at home against the Utah Grizzlies. Game 2 will be on Wednesday.
Attendance report: The Wranglers drew 5,394 fans at the Orleans Arena in the series finale, their fourth highest total of the season. This season’s average attendance of 4,350 ranks 12th in the league.
Final word: “The 72 exhibition games are done,” Mougenel said. “Now, the real season starts.”
I heard Miller has broken arm and bouret has a torn muscle in the knee, that is what some of the fans were saying in line for signatures, but if thats true, i doubt they will be "fine."
SOUNDS STUPID BUT DID THE WRANGLERS NOT SHOW UP (PLAY WELL) FOR A REASON TO GET INTO A DIFFERENT SEED POSITION? IF NOT THEN WHY DID NOT PLAY WELL FROM BEGINNING TO END SAD AS WE HAD FANS TONIGHT THAT REALLY WANTED TO THANK THEM BUT MOST HAD LEFT THE BUILDING BEFORE THE TEAM CAME OUT.
ONE WORD TO MOOG SHOOT SHOOT THE PUCK NO QUALITY SHOT SHOOT THE PUCK AND LET THE TEAM BANG IT IN PERIOD !!!!!!!!!
'
JUST SHOOT THE PUCK AND MAYBE ONE OF THE WRANGLERS WILL FOLLOW IT IN AND GET THE REBOUND YOU KNOW IT COULD HAPPENED.
SHOOT SHOOT
THE PUCK
vegasgal.... fyi, the wranglers shot the puck, we had 28 shots on net and only made one of them... You say "shoot shoot shoot" while we did that... Instead we should set up a play like we did.
It was a tough night, with nothing on the line, an exhibition game, so yeah. I was fine with the lost, it happens, just upset bout the injures, and lets hope they both recover and can play in the playoffs.
The rumors about Adam and Alex are all over the place. It certainly looked serious for both but one never knows. I wouldn't expect the coach to say anything other than that they are fine heading into a playoff series on Tuesday. Unless there is confirmation they are out, you need to make the other team spend time on film and preparation for them.
As for this SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT mentality, I hear people yelling that all the time; especially when someone has the puck at the blue line. 9 times out of 10, a shot trough 3 defenders from the blue line is good for one thing; a block before it gets anywhere near the goal and more times than I can remember, a puck rebounding off the block right out of the zone or leading to an odd man rush.
Instead of just yelling shoot, take an opportunity to see a play developing. Now, should the guys shoot more on some of those odd man rushes instead of trying to make the second extra pass or do sometimes the guys try to get a bit too fancy with the stick play instead of playing for a rebound? Sure, but lets also remember that they kids (and for the most part they are kids) are still sharpening their game; trying to make an impression that they have the skills to move up; and at times trying to be too unselfish in their extra passes. Its a learning process for them. You should notice how they have improved in this department as the season has progressed. I wish I could say the same of many of the fans in the stands who don't understand the subtleties of the game or what actually is a penalty and what isn't
Come on now everybody, the Wranglers just played absolutely aweful last night. They didn't even show up to play at all. They were 180 degrees out from the night before. It was like they didn't even want to win and just take what ever the play-off standings gave them. No defense, no offense--yes Ontario stepped up there game last night, but that's no excuse. If having 3 of their "better" players sitting out effected their play, then what about now with Miller and Bourret possibly hurt, and Lucesivic (sp?) in the AHL. It does seem that this particular team feeds off those few players that have the "it" factor. So are they going to actually come together as an entire team and play well, or is this going to be a very short play-off season? Time will soon tell!
Yeah the the team didnt need to play better last night, since the game was in a sense meaningless. We made the playoffs, and yes we could have had home ice, but really, the game didnt count for anything.
In fact, i wish no wranglers played last night (i have no clue if this is even legal) but i wished the team got a whole bunch of random people to play. That way everyone could rest up and no body would get injured. But who even knows if that could happen.
While in line for autographs last night, I spoke to a one of the players and he said neither injury to Bourett or Miller was serious. Miller went to the hospital for his shoulder, but was quickly released and already heading back to the arena before the line was gone. As for Bourett, he had a charlie horse and he couldn't get it worked out. That's why he was helped off the ice.
hckyfn: Lets hope you are right
anyone see any links to the Payoff brackets yet?
The Wranglers actually match up pretty well against the Grizzlies. Pay no mind to the beginning of the season when we played them seemingly every other game. I heard the worst happened to Bou Bou and Millsey last night, and then heard their injuries are relatively minor and should be back for the playoffs. I'm also hoping Lukacevic's call up to the Texas Stars is a relatively short one, as we're gonna need him back if we're gonna win the Kelly Cup.
Gistedt had a terrible game last night, and coach did the right thing by keeping him in the game the entire length. It might be the last action he sees this season.
@speed: To my knowledge, the brackets are like this: Bako plays Victoria, Ak plays Stockton, and we get utah. Lowest remaining seed plays Idaho, then the other two go against eachother.
@vegasgal, why dont you go ahead and coach the team? it seems like you know everything there is to know about hockey! You just cant throw the puck at the net everytime. As many of us stated before, you need traffic in front of the net to create oppurtunities to score. lvatty is dead on correct, some of the players tend to get fancy with trying to make the extra pass when they should shoot, however, they have come a long way from the beginning of the season developing their game up to this point. Take some time to understand the game, wacth a play develop and watch the position the players are in. Maybe then you'll understand why they dont always shoot the puck at the net!
Good Luck Wranglers!
Thanks for the update Bar Keep!
Speed,
Barkeep has it correct except for one thing. The winner of the Utah/Vegas series plays Idaho. There is no re-seeding to guarantee Idaho plays the lowest seed.
we knew, because miller's dad sits nearby, that when he returned to his seat, he was going to be ok. if it was a serious injury, he probably would have gone to the hospital with him.
word is we should get lukacevic back this week to help us out, and crossing my fingers we get watkins back as well.
good news, we've got a pretty good group with some ahl experience. bad news, they haven't been able to play and practice much with these guys for large portions of the season. team chemistry, understanding each others tendencies, etc. can be effected with the guys who get called up for long stretches or multiple call ups throughout the year.
as for the brackets after the first round, haven't looked them up. they've been different at times over the years, and i've never completely understood why they keep tinkering with it.
bottom line, it doesn't matter. you have to win every series to be the champs and should be prepared to play anyone at anytime.
GO WRANGLERS!
Idaho will play the lowest remaining seed from the first round. There will be no re-seeding so the assigned first round numbers will be used.
lvwranglersfan is correct. The ECHL website clearly states...
"The conference semifinals will have the first-place finisher meeting the winner of the fourth-place and fifth-place matchup."
Miller, Bourret, Ross and Watkins are on the playoff roster, along with a goalie named Wiikman. (www.oursportscentral.com)
Wiikman was 9-3-3 with Charlotte, 2.84 GAA, and one shutout. He is 2-5-1 with Hartford and San Antonio in the AHL, approximately 3.25 GAA.
Why would a coach say his player is fine with a broken arm? How could anyone possibly come back and play again in the next month with a broken arm?
And I didn't think the Wranglers played bad last night. The puck bounced right for the Reign. We could have played better, but it wasn't as lopsided as the score indicates. The last 2 goals were caused by indifference on our side and totally our fault but, by then, the game was over.
coach didn't say he broke his arm.