High School hockey is the rage in Southern California and Santa Margarita Catholic H.S. is the king of all of them. Last night they flashed speed and spoiled the season-opening game for the AA Las Vegas Jr Wranglers 4-0 at the ice rink in Lake Forest, California.

“They are really good, a team which moves the puck extremely well,” Las Vegas coach Anthony Greener said about Santa Margarita H.S. “We are still working on getting our systems down. Ian (Davis) played really well for us as did our goalie T.J. (Yocum).

The Jr Wranglers play again tonight, taking on another team which travels at jet speed on the ice – the AA Orange County Hockey Club 18u in the OC Labor Day Festival.

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Vito Carlo of Las Vegas scored 2 goals for the AAA Utah Regulators 16u in a 5-3 win over the Anaheim Wildcats at the USHL Labor Day Tournament in San Jose. Vito is the first Las Vegas Player Away From Home this season to score.

Gage Quinney of Las Vegas is in the main camp of the WHL Prince Albert Raiders which has 43 players there – 25 forwards, 14 defensemen, 4 goalies.

Joey DiBenedetto, who played for the AAA Las Vegas Storm 18u last winter, is on the camp roster for the USHL Tri-City Storm in Kearney, Nebraska. The Storm has 19 forwards, 9 defensemen and 3 goalies going to camp which begins Monday.

Saturday, August 31

USHL Showcase at San Jose

AAA 18u

Alaska Jr Aces 3, Golden State Eagles 2

Ontario Avalanche 4, Utah Regulators 2

Phoenix Jr Coyotes 3, San Jose Jr Sharks 2

Cal Titans 6, Compete Rams – Idaho 1

Alaska Jr Aces 11, Utah Regulators 1

Orange County Labor Day Festival

AA 18u

Orange County Hockey Club 8, Las Vegas Jr Wranglers 0

USHL Labor Day Showcase at San Jose

AAA 16u

Utah Regulators 5, Anaheim Wildcats 3

//Vito Carlo of Las Vegas 2 goals for Regulators

San Jose Jr Sharks 1, San Diego Jr Gulls 1 (tie)

Phoenix Jr Coyotes 4, Cal Titans 1

Anaheim Ducks #2 3, Alaska Jr Aces 1

Anaheim Ducks #2 8, Utah Regulators 1

Orange County Labor Day Festival

AA 16u

Anaheim Jr Ducks #2 8, Anaheim Jr Ducks #1 6

+Friday, August 30, 2013+

AAA 18u

USHL Labor Day Showcase at San Jose

Utah Regulators 3, Golden State Eagles 1

Alaska Jr Aces 8, Ontario Avalanche 2

Phoenix Jr Coyotes 4, Compete Rams – Idaho 1

Cal Titans 5, San Jose Jr Sharks 3

AA 18u

Orange County Labor Day Festival

Santa Margarito High School 4, Las Vegas Jr Wranglers 0

Orange County Hockey Club #1 8, Channel Islands Riptide 1

Cal Wave 4, Orange County #2 0

AAA 16u

USHL Labor Day Showcase at San Jose

Alaska Jr Aces 5, Utah Regulators 0

San Jose Jr Sharks 2, Cal Titans 1

San Diego Jr Gulls 4, Phoenix Jr Coyotes 2

Anaheim Jr Ducks #2 9, Anaheim Wildcats 1

AA 16u

Orange County Labor Day Festival

San Diego Oilers 7, Las Vegas Jr Wranglers 0

San Diego Jr Gulls 1, Anaheim Jr Ducks 1 (tie)

Orange County Hockey Club 2, Channel Islands Riptide 2 (tie)

It’s easy to report scores and game highlights to Vegashockey.net – send an email to leesamuels07@aol.com

By Lee Samuels

At last, the summertime skates are over – no more 3 on 3s, flow drills, stick and puck. The season official opens on Friday night when the Anthony Greener-coached AA Las Vegas Jr Wranglers 18u head out on 1-15 South and take on Santa Margarita Catholic High School in the Orange County Labor Day Hockey Festival. Faceoff tonight is at 8 pm.

Santa Margarita H.S. is the defending national high school champion, winning a bright gold team medal in the U.S. Nationals played in Coral Gables, Fla. last March.

The Las Vegas vs Santa Margarita H.S. game tonight will be played at the Lake Forest Ice Palace in Southern California. Then, two games are set this weekend against AA Orange County #1 18u and Orange County #2 18u on their home rink Yorba Linda Ice on LaPalma Road in Yorba Linda, California.

This looks like one of the best AA Las Vegas 18u team in years with awesome firepower on the top line, pretty good depth on the other lines and a top, hard-working goalie in TJ Yocum.

Greener, who played all of his hockey in Las Vegas, said “…we have a good team with a lot of potential. I’m excited to see if they will get their noses dirty and see where we really stack up.

“All I ask is that everyone buys into our systems and gives us 110 percent on the ice.”

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Here is a link to the OC tournament schedule:

http://www.internationalhockeyevents.com/images/2013-labor-day-schedule.pdf

Here is a look at the Santa Margarita H.S. website:

http://www.smhs.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=152947&type=d

Here is link to the OC Hockey Club site:

http://www.yorbalindaicerink.com/OCicepalace.aspx?page=ochc.aspx

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The Jr Wranglers are also taking their AA 16u team which opens Friday against the San Diego Oilers, 5 pm, at the Aliseo Vijeo rink. Jake McKenna, a strong skater and team leader, will play in his first game on this midget tier level.

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From the Blue Line – Gage Quinney, who played for the AAA Las Vegas Storm 18u last winter, is on the roster of players skating in the WHL Prince Albert Raiders rookie camp….Vito Carlo of Las Vegas and the AAA Utah Regulators 16u are in San Jose for the USHL Labor Day Tournament…Joey Raats, a ’95 from Las Vegas, is on the camp roster of the Drumheller Dragons in Canada….

Brendan Harris of Las Vegas is in the main camp of the NAHL Bismarck Bobcats. Brendan last season skated for the AAA California Titans 16u and has a college commitment to St. Cloud State….

Goalie Talon Miller, who played two seasons with AAA Las Vegas Storm, is making plans to return to the WSHL Salt Lake City Moose. He takes a red eye flight on Tuesday from Anchorage to Las Vegas, then drives to Salt Lake.

CJ Stubbs, the top goal scorer last winter for the AAA Las Vegas Storm 18u, and his father Chad are driving from Salt Lake City to the main camp of the NAHL Minot, ND. Minotauros.  CJ was drafted by Minot. The trip winds from Utah to Idaho to Montana before reaching North Dakota – about a 15 hour journey.

Goal scorer Johnny Kemp of Arcadia, California – who played with the USHL Indiana Ice, then U of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks – is going into the main camp of the ECHL Ontario Reign. Johnny, an ’87, is 26.

Judd Blackwater, goal scorer last winter for the ECHL Las Vegas Wranglers, signed with Olimpija Ljubljana in Slovenia. He will be there this weekend.

Evan Butcher of Anchorage who played for the AAA Las Vegas Storm has signed with the AAA Pikes Peak Miners 18u…..Chris Hausinger, also from Anchorage and an AAA Storm alum, will play for the AAA Maryland Skipjacks 18u…Other former Storm skaters including Colton St. John and Kenny Hausinger are in tryout camps this weekend…

Ron White, president of the WSHL, has been in Las Vegas talking about launching a Prospects League for 18u midget teams….

Gage Roberts, Zane Branson are the goalies for the AA Las Vegas Jr Wranglers 16u who head out tomorrow to the OC Labor Day Hockey Festival.

Aaron Kinslow, the former coach of the WSHL Salt Lake City Moose, notes that some of his former players are off to college this fall including goalie Alex Burdekin to Concordia College in Wisconsin, Artem Savalyev to Waldorf College and Anthony Mancini to Bottineau State University. Kinslow is a scout for the NAHL Bismarck Bobcats…

By Rob Pallin

Coach – Sapa Fehervar AV19 – Hungary

We played last weekend. We beat a Hungarian team, Slovakian and lost to a Polish team.  Our preseason record is 6-1.  We play at home this weekend against a team in our league. It will be a good test. The other two teams are from Switzerland and England.

Star defenseman Eddie Del Grosso of Las Vegas is 28 today. Happy birthday, Eddie…

2ND ANNUAL ORANGE COUNTY LABOR DAY FESTIVAL

Games will be played on three rinks – Aliso Viejo, Lake Forest and Yorba Linda

AA LAS VEGAS JR WRANGLERS 18u

Friday, Aug 30 – vs Santa Margarita @ Lake Forest 8 pm

Saturday, Aug 31 – vs Orange County #1 @ Yorba Linda 6:20 pm

Sunday, September 1 – vs Orange County #2 @ Yorba Linda, 9:20 am

Playoffs Begin

AA LAS VEGAS JR WRANGLERS 16u

Friday, Aug 30 – vs San Diego Oilers @Aliseo Vijeo, 5 pm

Saturday, Aug 31 – vs Anaheim Jr Ducks 2 @Yorba Linda, 3:20 pm

Sunday, Sep 1 – vs San Diego Jr Gulls @Yorba Linda, 11 am

Playoffs Begin

Not only is Matt Edlin returning as the president of the Las Vegas Jr Wranglers, he going back to the bench too.  Matt, who won a few Best Administrator awards on Vegas Hockey, will be coaching a Bantam A team.  Ken Quinney, whose son Gage is one of the best young skaters in town, will coach the top Jr Wranglers bantam team.

Edlin was working nights and not available the last two years. The work hours changed to the good and he was recently asked if he wanted to return as president.

“Didn’t think twice about it – I said yes right away. The Jr Wranglers have a wonderful organization and I want to help us grow in all areas, get even more players and for me personally, yes I wanted to coach again. All of this is exciting.”

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Vegashockey.net will have live scoring updates when coach Anthony Greener’s AA Las Vegas Jr Wranglers 18u, 16u teams head out this weekend to the Orange County Labor Day Festival.

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Austin Playfair, 6’4″ 200 lbs., of the AAA Phoenix Jr Coyotes, yesterday signed to play for the WHL Tri-City Americans. Austin is 16.

It’s a rainy Labor Day week in Las Vegas. For Jason Zucker, he’s getting prepared to gear up and report to the NHL Minnesota Wild main camp.  Jason will head out on September 3.

Beau McCue, who played bantam hockey for the Nevada Stars a year years ago, is in the main camp of the WHL Tri-City Americans….Zach Pochiro of Las Vegas reports to the WHL Prince George Cougars on August 30. He is a draft pick of the NHL St. Louis Blues.

Zach Whisman is the goalie coach for the AA Las Vegas Jr Wranglers 18u, 16u teams. Years ago – in 2002-03 – Zach and Ryan Coursey were the top goalies for Rob Pallin’s AAA Las Vegas Outlaws team.

That was Chris Francis, one of the all-time goal scorers in Las Vegas, working with some young skaters over this weekend at the SoBe Ice Arena. He will skate for the ECHL Las Vegas Wranglers this season….

Memo to hockey mom Stacie: Micah Sanford is 31 years old and is active in NARCh Pro roller….

Star defensemen Eddie Del Grosso is in town, noting he is still looking at opportunities to play this season…

Goalie T.J. Yocum, 15 1/2, has his drivers permit. His hockey dad Greg rides on the right front side when it’s time to go to the Jr Wranglers practices…

Playmaker Jimmy Samuels says he plans to return to roller, skating in a top house league this fall over at Crystal Palace on North Rancho Drive.

The Big Rain here Sunday night result in some heavy flooding in Northwest Las Vegas, particuarly on Grand Teton Road which had a raging river. No cars or small trucks went through that…..

The ‘Jr Wranglers Flash Their Power at Practice’ was by far the most read story since Vegashockey.net was launched here two months ago.