In a show of respect, 10 of Mike Madill’s former teammates showed up Friday at Orleans Arena to watch the former Wranglers team captain get introduced as the team’s new coach and general manager.
Mike Madill played for the only two coaches the Wranglers have had. Today, the former Las Vegas defenseman and team captain will be introduced as the third coach and general manager in the ECHL franchise’s 10-year history, said a team source who requested anonymity.
Less than a year after guiding the Wranglers to the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals, Ryan Mougenel’s four-year tenure as Las Vegas’ coach and general manager is over.
In complete control of the game and their ECHL Western Conference quarterfinal series against Stockton early in the third period of Game 6 Friday night in California, the Wranglers completely unraveled down the stretch.
Quirky Wranglers goalie Joe Fallon has been known to read calculus books for fun, but you don’t have to be a math wizard to figure out Las Vegas is one win away from advancing to the second round of the ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs.
After losing only twice during a dominant playoff run to the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals last year, the Wranglers find themselves at the opposite end of the spectrum.
The last time Wranglers coach Ryan Mougenel and Stockton Thunder coach Matt Thomas faced each other in the playoffs was 1990, when their rival Toronto high schools squared off for the city championship.
Nothing was at stake for the Wranglers in Friday’s regular-season finale at Orleans Arena, but losing to Bakersfield, the worst team in the ECHL, before a crowd of 6,769 on fan appreciation night wasn’t the way they wanted to enter the playoffs.
After breaking a blade in his skate Tuesday morning, Wranglers goalie Mitch O’Keefe had to wear a new pair of skates in Tuesday night’s game against Ontario at Orleans Arena.
At the start of last season’s playoff run to the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals, the Wranglers were missing five players who were in the American Hockey League.
One of the most prolific fighters in ECHL history, Wranglers enforcer Adam Huxley knows all about “the code,” an unwritten set of rules that professional hockey’s tough guys are expected to adhere to.
Charlie Cook opened the scoring and later added an empty-netter in the Wranglers’ 4-1 win over the Bakersfield Condors (21-43-2-3) at Bakersfield, Calif.
Adam Hughesman scored midway through the first period, and Wranglers goaltender Mitch O’Keefe made it stand up as Las Vegas beat the Colorado Eagles 1-0 in Loveland, Colo. O’Keefe stopped 28 shots for the Wranglers (33-28-5), notching his first shutout of the season.
Kyle Forney’s power-play goal gave the Colorado Eagles a first-period lead they wouldn’t relinquish in a 2-1 victory over the Wranglers on Friday at Loveland, Colo.