Las Vegas Wranglers summer update

LAS VEGAS, Nev – With the ECHL off-season officially in full swing and the fans sweaters still hanging up in the closets, the teams of the ECHL and all over the world have done anything but spend the summer lounging by the pool. While there may not be much for the die hard fan to do during the summer months, the league and all of the organizations have been working hard behind the scenes to make sure that the best level of hockey is represented when the ECHL starts back in October, albeit with some hiccups.
As with any minor league teams, especially in hockey, the off-season summer months come with loads of change, both on the ice and off. The Las Vegas Wranglers are certainly no exception to this rule. There have been a total of eight overseas transactions for former Wranglers players and two new signings.
The players that will be spending next season paying for groceries in euros are Craig Switzer (Denmark), Greg Collins (Germany), Chris Higgins (Sweden), Michael Ouzas (Croatia), Sean McMonagle (Sweden), Aaron Power (Italy), Ryan Huddy (Italy) and Blake Gallagher (Norway).
In addition to these, longtime Wranglers star and last season’s player with the “C,” Tyler Mosienko, has spent this summer playing with Team Canada during their overseas tour.
However, in better news, the Wranglers have announced the signing of Thomas Kirikou from the University of Guelph and the return of defenseman Mike Madill. Madill, a former Wrangler star, spent last season in Japan with the Nippon Paper Cranes of the Asia League.
Also, in a move that has been a long time coming, by the fans standard, the Wranglers have decided to update their official web site. The previous site had been established near the beginning of the Wranglers entry into the ECHL ranks, It was good and informative, but become outdated and was rarely updated. While not adding any groundbreaking information to the website, the new design is much sleeker and shows a renewed commitment by the ownership and senior club leadership to re-branding the team to make it better than ever.
Although many of last seasons players are now heading off to other leagues and clubs, the organization has recently hired some new front office staff, including a recent graduate from University of Nevada, Reno, Rachel Wright. This is a good step for an organization that was very close to folding the season before last, because of severe financial woes and currently operates on one of the lowest operating budgets in the entire ECHL. Wright assumes the position of Director of PR and Media Relations. This shows a renewed drive by the new owners of the organization to bring the club back to its previous operating levels.
A great way to keep up with the Wranglers (besides the new site of course) is to become an addition to their official Facebook page. Updated by a member of the Wranglers organization, their Facebook page is full of interesting articles regarding the team and also includes a weekly “Swag Bag” trivia giveaway question every Friday afternoon.
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