Saturday, January 30, 2015

Here is how the Las Vegas hockey coaches, players, hockey moms and dads voted

Who Will Win the Super Bowl – New England Patriots or Seattle Seahawks

15 votes – Patriots will win

11 votes – Seahawks will win

The final score, according to our panel:  Patriots should win by 4.5 points

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Saturday, January 31, 2015

“He’s amazing. He reminds me of Paul Coffey, the smooth way he skates, making it seem so effortlessly.”

— WSHL coach Gabe Gauthier, talking about Las Vegas Storm bantam Steven Avalone.

THERE’S A NEW RISING STAR IN TOWN

By Lee Samuels

Las Vegas – It was an action game, both teams skating hard, the score tied and then Steven Avalone of the Nevada Storm Bantam AA club took off with the puck down the ice. He weaved, powered in, unloaded a blast of a shot and scored.  It was dramatic action, helping the Nevada Storm’s Bantam AA team beat the Las Vegas Jr Wranglers 5-2 in the opening game of a Best of Three City Series game before a crowd jammed into the Las Vegas Ice Center on Friday night.

And how important was that goal? Well, the winner of this series advances to the U.S. Nationals. 

“Steven is the real deal, an AAA Tier 1 level player,” said his coach Micah Sanford. “He has the right kind of hockey sense, gets good positioning, can skate, is smart with the puck. He will be a top player on the next level of his game and when the time is right he will have no problem playing junior hockey.”

Steven scored his 19th goal. His teammate Cameron Zucker, the youngest brother of Jason Zucker, has 21 goals and another teammate, a skilled, hard working Cody Printzen scored 2 goals in this game to give him 19 for the season.

While Avalone was leading the way, a powerful Storm defenseman John Hallett fired off some hard checks.

The Jr Wranglers battled all the way, led by a very fast, gifted skater in Issac Gomez who can move and is a danger to score at any time. Issac works hard in practices and also works with a speed skating coach.

Game two is Sunday 11:25 am at the SoBe Ice Arena.

From the Blue Line –  Steven Avalone had a scratchy throat so he drank some chilled Cool Blue Gatorades before the game. ….There were two premier coaches in this game. Micah Sanford is a Las Vegas scoreking at all levels. The Jr Wranglers folks were raving about their coach, Ken Quinney.  His sons Gage (WHL Kelowna Rockets) and Langdon (AAA Arizona Bobcats 16u) are high level players….Coach Nick Robone was with Micah on the Storm bench.

Here is how the scoring went:

Nevada Storm – Justin Brooks, 20′ blast left side

Las Vegas Jr Wranglers – Hunter Barto, dramatic close range chip which had heat on it while getting into the net.

Nevada Storm – Steven Avalone, with scored tied he shook loose, went down the ice and scored

Nevada Storm – Cody Printzen who skated hard the entire game

Nevada Storm – Cody Printzen, a big goal which gave the Storm a 4-1 lead

Nevada Storm – Darion Conway, whose goal made it 5-1 Storm

Las Vegas Jr Wranglers – Robert Purdy, a very popular player who blasted a shot from mid range. The Jr Wranglers fans exploded and high-fived when he scored.

Shots on goal – Storm 20-18

Goalies

Las Vegas Storm – Anthony Bonaldi

Las Vegas Jr Wranglers – Luke Fundator

Official statement from team owner Gary Jacobs

Dear Las Vegas Wranglers Supporters,

I want to thank you, our fans, sponsors, media, staff, players and coaches for the support you have displayed for the Las Vegas Wranglers. I enjoyed getting to know many of you. You were certainly a loud crowd voicing your backing for the team, win or lose.

As you know we have been searching for a new home for the Las Vegas Wranglers for the past year. Unfortunately despite a great amount of effort led by Billy Johnson we were unable to secure a new facility.

At the ECHL mid-season meeting I informed the commissioner that we were voluntarily withdrawing from membership in the ECHL. Thus the reign of the Las Vegas Wranglers comes to an end.

Thank you all once again for your tremendous support over the years.

Sincerely,
Gary Jacobs

Friday, January 30, 2015

FINAL SCORES

WSHL

SAN DIEGO GULLS 4, LAS VEGAS STORM 3

//Gulls win dramatically, scoring with 12 seconds to play. Nikita Larinov 2 goals, Beau Ricketts 1 goal for Storm. Nikita #1 Star, Trevor Morgan #2 Star. Patrik Jokela in net for Storm. Game 3 of this series is tonight at the Las Vegas Ice Center.

ACHA D2

CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE 6, UNLV REBELS 0

//Cal State Northridge is ranked #13 in the West

MWHL – Mountain West Hockey League

LAS VEGAS WOLVES 9, SAN DIEGO SKATES 7

//Down four goals going into the 3rd period, the LV Wolves rallied to win. Connor Haney 2 goals, plus an assist; big game as well for Anthony Greener who scored several times. UNLV alum Scott Rensmon played in this game. His UNLV linemates a few years ago were Greener and Robbie Silvernail. Adam Stio was referee.

BANTAM AA

NEVADA STORM 5, LAS VEGAS JR WRANGLERS 2

//Opening game of a Best of Three before a large crowd jammed into the Las Vegas Ice Center; game two Sunday 11:25 am at SoBe Ice Arena; winner of this series advances to the U.S. Nationals

Also on Friday:

NAHL

WENATCHEE WILD 5, KENAI RIVER BROWN BEARS 1

//Brendan Harris of Las Vegas 1 goal, 2 assists, #2 Star of the Game for Wenatchee Wild at Kenai, Alaska.

JUNIOR (21u)

//Daniel Nicholas of Las Vegas dealt the game-winning assist for the Espanola Rivermen in a 3-1 win over Kalkaska.

AHL approves formation of Pacific Division

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … American Hockey League President and CEO David Andrews announced today that the league’s Board of Governors has formally and unanimously approved the steps necessary to create a Pacific Division within the AHL beginning with the 2015-16 season.

The Board has approved the following:

• The Anaheim Ducks will purchase the Norfolk Admirals AHL franchise and will relocate it from Norfolk, Va., to San Diego, Calif.

• The AHL franchise owned by the Calgary Flames will relocate from Glens Falls, N.Y., to Stockton, Calif.

• The AHL franchise owned by the Edmonton Oilers will relocate from Oklahoma City, Okla., to Bakersfield, Calif.

• The AHL franchise owned by the Los Angeles Kings will relocate from Manchester, N.H., to Ontario, Calif.

• The AHL franchise owned by the San Jose Sharks will relocate from Worcester, Mass., to San Jose, Calif.

Full division alignments and schedule formats for the 2015-16 season will be determined by the Board of Governors at a later date.

“Relocating five teams is a complex process, and we are very excited to have brought this initiative to a successful outcome,” said Andrews. “The Western-based NHL clubs have been in dialogue with our league for almost three years, and today’s announcement launches a new era for the American Hockey League and for professional hockey in California.”

“This is a wonderful growth opportunity for the game of hockey in the Western region and it will have a tremendous impact for years to come,” said Luc Robitaille, President of Business Operations for the Los Angeles Kings. “I want to commend each of the participating clubs, along with Dave Andrews, Bill Daly and Gary Bettman, for their commitment, patience and willingness to work through a very challenging but worthwhile process in order to get to this day.”

“The immense growth of the game of hockey in the state of California shows that hockey fans here love the game and they support it,” said San Jose Sharks Chief Operating Officer John Tortora. “Having our top prospects playing on the same coast as our National Hockey League team will greatly enhance our ability to monitor and enhance their development. The creation of this Pacific Division of the American Hockey League has been a long time in the making and is the result of an immense amount of hard work by the AHL, the NHL and the five Pacific Division teams. We are extremely excited to have this division become a reality and we can’t wait for October 2015.”

Thursday, January 20, 2015

By Lee Samuels

Las Vegas – After a line brawl, hard checks, a player ejection, ultra heat from the visiting bench to the referee, the game between the WSHL Las Vegas Storm and the San Diego Gulls went 4-4 in regulation, plus two overtimes and an OT/Shootout which went nine players deep.

Finally, after 3 hours, 23 minutes, the Thursday night game was decided.

Felix Brunner, the 9th OT shooter for Las Vegas, skated hard towards the San Diego net, deked a move and unloaded a power blast of a shot. The puck was driven so hard Gulls goalie Jokaim Jutras of Quebec took a step backwards and, checked his glove and then turned to take a look deep into the net. The puck was there, settled quietly on the cold ice.  Game over. The Storm players rushed off the bench and the Las Vegas Ice Center’s electric scoreboard made a clicking noise, then read Storm 5, Gulls 4.

It was a big win for Las Vegas which was in an 0-9-1 funk of a streak dating to December 7.  This one was rough and physical with a playoff feel to it including a brawl early, with furnace-like heat turned up in a game both clubs desperately wanted to win.

There were all kinds of heroes for Las Vegas – the grittiness and hard play from Beau Ricketts, the two goals from Vincent Dekumbis, an amazing goal from Kyle Pachecho who fired off a shot, followed the play and then ripped a rebound into the net.  Then, two five-minute OTs – the first 4 x 4, the second 3 x 3 and then the mind-numbing OT/Shootout.

Brunner, who is 6’0, 170 and from Austria, was named the Star of the Game, Dekumbis was the #2 Star. There should have been a Star for Storm goalie Patrik Jokela who was under heavy fire much of the game and who made nine straight saves in the OT/Shootout.

It was something to see and there are two games remaining in this series on Friday and Saturday nights at the Ice Center.

From the Blue Line –  At the end of the second period Storm defenseman Brandon Bavis went to the snack bar for a red bag of Skittles. A few moments later young Storm defenseman Jake Kenna got his Skittles. Both played exceptionally well in the third period and in the two OT periods….Jiro Ryyppo of the Storm was a great player to track during the game.  In the heat of action Jiro played a composed, deliberate game which was very effective – what a great skater he is….At the boards, parents said that one of our favorite players – Quinn Travis – is out with a fractured ankle and is now home to recover in Colorado….Adam Stio was referee, Adam Hendren – a Six Time Vegas Hockey Referee of the Year – was one of the linesmen.

Las Vegas goal scorers

LVS – Vincent Dekumbis (14th)  Assists – Nikita Larinov, Alkhas Kochkarev

LVS – Kyle Pacheco (14th)

LVS – Vincent Dekumbis (15th)

LVS – Beau Ricketts (20th)

LVS – Felix Brunner (6th)

Shots on Goal

Las Vegas 43-41

Thursday, January 29, 2015

By Lee Samuels

Las Vegas – Super Bowl week is kicking in early this week. The WSHL Las Vegas Storm starts it tonight in a rare Thursday night game against the San Diego Gulls at the Las Vegas Ice Center. Faceoff is at 6 pm on the north rink. This will be the opener of a three-game weekend series.

For Las Vegas, this is an important series as wins are needed to get positioning for the upcoming playoffs. Las Vegas is five points ahead of the Gulls in their division race. Gulls games this season are typically low-scoring firefights.

Las Vegas coach Gabe Gauthier said “these are important games. We’ve been on a slump for 10 games and I’ve had enough. We worked them hard last week during the bye week and again this week in practice in preparation for this weekend.”

The coach announced that Trevor Morgan’s older brother Jaeden has been added to the roster.  Patrik Jokela, the Storm’s #1 goalie, will get the start tonight.

Las Vegas Top Goal Scorers

19 – Beau Ricketts, 15 – Nikita Larionov, 14 – Arrigo Burgener, 13 – Vincent Dekumbis, 13- Kyle Pacheco, 9 – Quinn Travis, 6 – Moritz Matzka, 5 – Felix Brunner

San Diego Gulls Top Goal Scorers

13 – Todd Cameron, 13 – Nurbek Baltayev, 11 – Artemy Yaroslavskiy, 9- Pavel Bocharov, 7 – Felix Morin

From the Blue Line – Beau Ricketts of Las Vegas was a star goal scorer for the Helena BigHorns, then played two seasons with the NAHL Minot Minotauros. Beau, a big game goal scorer for the Storm, has 6 powerplay goals…He was voted the 2014 Vegas Hockey Player of the Year and teammate Moritz Matzka was voted the Defensive Player of the Year…Las Vegas defenseman Alkhas Kocharev has 16 points – one goal, 15 assists. He is a very strong player….Felix Brunner of the Storm played youth hockey with the L.A. Jr Kings and Cal Wave…Quinn Travis, a very skilled player, is from Colorado…The series with the Gulls will be played on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Both teams are off on Super Bowl Sunday.

Here are updates on brothers Drew and Jimmy Schilletter of Las Vegas:

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Drew’s AA Arizona Hockey Union 18u team is 29-12-2. The club has won three tournaments, finished second place in one and lost in the semi-finals of another. They are an impressive team. They have only lost once in the state of Arizona league. Drew has 1 goal, 7 assists and is +21 on the ice this season.

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Jimmy’s AAA Phoenix Jr Coyotes 15u are 21-19-2, with one tournament championship and are 9-3-0 in their last 12 AAA games. Jimmy has 5 assists and is plus 5 on the ice for his team which has outscored opposing teams by 17 goals this season.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Las Vegas –  Richie Crossley, a popular UNLV defenseman, will be activated and in action for the UNLV Rebels who are home this weekend in a two-game series against Top 15 ranked Cal State Northridge.  The opening game will be Friday evening 5:45 pm at the SoBe Ice Arena on North Rancho Drive.