Wranglers wrap up training camp roster

LAS VEGAS – With the ECHL and Las Vegas Wranglers season rapidly approaching, General Manager and Head Coach Ryan Mougenel has been very busy bringing back a great group of returning stars and new faces.
 
While most fans will be very excited to recognize a good percentage of the current Wranglers squad, there are ample reasons to be hopeful about quite a few of the new acquisitions to the desert of Nevada as well. On the returning list from last seasons’ Kelly Cup Finals squad are star goalie Joe Fallon, Captain and defenseman Mike Madill, lead bruiser Adam Huxley, all-star scoring forward Eric Lampe and offensive star Judd Blackwater.
 
All told, there are 13 returning Wranglers that saw action in the Kelly Cup Finals series versus the Florida Everblades at the end of last ECHL season. This number does not include the players, such as Josh Lunden and Jaime Fritsch, that have promised to head back to Nevada should their AHL training camps not go as expected.
 
Some new faces added to the Wranglers line-up include defensemen Josh Godfrey and forwards Bryce Reddick, Mickey Lang and Brandon Burlingame.
 
Godfrey, an accomplished defenseman from Collingwood, Ontario, spent last hockey season as a member of both the Binghamton Senators and Elmira Jackals. Initially earning his professional start as a member of the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL’s Eastern Conference, Godfrey started with the legendary Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL. Godfrey has made several trips to the AHL level as well, most recently in 2011-2012 with the Senators, playing in 60 games total and earning 15 points and 29 penalty minutes.
 
Godfrey played in the ECHL All-Star game in 2011 as a representative of the Stingrays, eventually winning the Hardest Shot competition with a speed of 102.7 MPH. This achievement in the professional ranks does not eclipse his other achievements. During the 2007-2008 season, Godfrey won a Gold Medal in the U20 WJC championship in the Czech Republic while still a member of the Greyhounds. He also has some valuable hardware in his collection, earning the Kelly Cup once with South Carolina and earning a Calder Cup as a member of the Hershey Bears.
 
Reddick, a Las Vegas native and right-winger, spent the last four hockey seasons playing collegiate hockey at Michigan Tech. As a Husky, Reddick earned 10 points in 74 games. An original graduate of Clark County’s Green Valley High school, Reddick initially left Southern Nevada to become a member of the Cowichan Valley Capitals of the BCHL, earning 74 points in 110 games over two seasons.
 
Reddick is no stranger to professional hockey, being the son of star NHL goaltender “Pokey” Reddick. Reddick joins a small list of native Nevadans playing the professional game, along with Eddie Del Grosso, Chris Francis and Adam Naglich.
Lang, a natural centerman originally from Reno, but currently in New Jersey, spent last season with a good Quad City Mallards of the CHL. Earning 40 points in 60 games as a Mallard, Lang started his pro career off very well, after finishing his collegiate career with the NCAA III level Manhatanville College. In 88 games as a Valiant, Lang earned 93 points and 94 penalty minutes over four seasons. Prior to this, Lang suited up for the New York Apple Core of the Eastern Junior Hockey League, playing in 86 games with 74 points.
 
Lang hopes to continue his promising career in Nevada, after the great year in Quad City, even though it started poorly when he was cut early from training camp with the Reading Royals of the ECHL.
 
Burlingame, a forward from Boring, Oregon, is trying for another shot at his first professional hockey career. He began his career in the Northern Pacific Hockey League with the Vancouver Victory and then moved to the Southern Oregon Spartans. Burlingame just came from an unsuccessful tryout with the ECHL’s Stockton Thunder and the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks. Earning 73 points in 152 games in the NORPAC, Burlingame hopes to make his latest professional tryout his most successful.
 
Now, as the Wranglers organization gears up for the commencement of training camp in the next couple of weeks and the always short pre-season schedule, of which only one game will be played at the Orleans Arena. It seems the long wait of the long off-season is nearly past and the race to the Kelly Cup and beyond begins in earnest.
 
Contact the writer at Joel.Hoopaugh@prohockeynews.com
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