The Reign’s winning streak was short-lived.
Tag Archives: Las Vegas Wranglers
Las Vegas 2, Reign 1.
Las Vegas 4, Reign 2.
Surprise starter Mike Zacharias gave up goals on the first two shots he faced, and the Reign never caught up to Las Vegas in their first game in a week.
Wranglers, Frank fined for pregame spat.
It’s hard to tell who was the guilty party just by reading this summary, from the Las Vegas Sun, of the Reign’s game against the Las Vegas Wranglers on Dec. 19:
So when the Reign started chirping during pregame warmups, the Wranglers chirped back.
When the Reign started pushing, the Wranglers pushed back.
But once the puck dropped at the Orleans Arena, it was the Wranglers who set the tone.
“We wanted to respond before the game started,” Wranglers defenseman Chris Frank said.
In the judgment of the ECHL, it was Frank and his Las Vegas teammates.
Both were fined separately for violating rule 86.6, which reads: “During the pre-game warm-up (which shall not exceed sixteen (16) minutes in duration) and before the commencement of play in any period, each team shall confine its activity to its own end of the rink.”
The league did not release the exact amount each would be fined.
View from the other bench: Las Vegas.
The Las Vegas Wranglers are in flux, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
[Head coach Ryan] Mougenel has little choice but to hope his current players contribute more because his paltry payroll prevents him from making significant moves.
“We have the lowest payroll in the ECHL,” he said.
ECHL teams are allowed a weekly salary cap of $11,800, not including players on injured reserve. Mougenel said he’s “operating nowhere near $11,800.”
“It’s tough,” he said. “Alaska has five or six guys on IR and their cap is like $16,000. Ours is $10,300 with IR.”
A higher payroll doesn’t seem likely because team ownership is in flux. The franchise is in the process of being sold, Mougenel said.
Charles Davenport, the team’s principal owner since its inception in Las Vegas in 2003, recently sold his share to co-owner Jonathan Fleisig, who also owns the Bakersfield (Calif.) Condors.
With attendance at the Orleans Arena down more than 20 percent from four years ago — from 5,075 to 3,945 per game — and corporate sponsorships also down during the recession, Fleisig appears intent on keeping his expenses in Las Vegas as low as possible.
The local hockey team is only one of many local institutions to suffer during the recession in a city built on tourism. In fact, it might be among the smallest. Check out this article in the L.A. Times from September for some perspective.
Las Vegas 2, Reign 1.
Todd Jackson returned to the Reign lineup and scored Ontario’s only goal, but the Reign lost 2-1 to the Las Vegas Wranglers at Orleans Arena on Saturday night.
Reign 3, Las Vegas 2, shootout.
Three defensemen — Shawn Germain, Chad Starling and Jon Landry — scored in the shootout, with Germain scoring on the first shootout attempt of his career. Jon Francisco and Greg Hogeboom scored in regulation, the latter coming with 3:14 left in the third period to send the game to overtime tied at 2.
Las Vegas 2, Reign 1.
A back-and-forth third period decided an otherwise sluggish game, with Chris Neiszner deflecting a loose puck past Mike Zacharias with 9:21 remaining for the game-winner.
David Walker scored short-handed for the Reign’s only goal and Zacharias, making his second start in as many nights, stopped 24 of 26 shots.
Even though the Reign finished their home-opening weekend 1-2, the mood after the game was fairly upbeat. The Reign matched Las Vegas’ energy for 60 minutes despite playing three games in three nights.
More details in tomorrow’s editions.
Las Vegas 4, Reign 3: reaction.
It seemed to be the perfect recipe — bring back the same leadership corps, the same coach, the same system, add some physical toughness and skilled forwards — and you’ve got an Ontario Reign squad whose physical talents match their mental acumen.
The only problem, especially Friday, is that the mental toughness wasn’t present.
“I think we did it to ourselves,” said Jon Rheault, asked if the Las Vegas Wranglers had gotten under their skin in a 4-3 loss in the Reign’s home opener. “We have to learn to control our emotions. The reactions to some of the calls we had – we got hit and then we’d spear someone – it’s part of the game. We’ve got to be more mentally tough than that.”
Continue reading “Las Vegas 4, Reign 3: reaction.” »
Las Vegas 4, Reign 3.
Tied 3-3 heading into the third period, the Reign put themselves short-handed one too many times to win their home opener.
With Tim Kraus in the box for tripping, Ned Lukacevic netted the game-winning goal with 6:14 left in the third period, lifting the Las Vegas Wranglers to a 4-3 victory before 8,067 at The Bank. It was the only power-play goal for the Wranglers in nine chances Friday, seven of which came in the final period.
Jon Rheault scored two goals and assisted on the third, Jon Francisco’s first goal of the season. Curtis Darling got the start in net and stopped 31 of 35.
More notes and postgame quotes to come. If you went to the game, let me hear from you.