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By
Phillip Brents
Posted on
Oct. 11, 2002
 In
this, the WCHL’s final season of operation, things have fittingly
come full circle.
Frenso Falcons
veteran Greg Spenrath decided to hang up his skates after a 12-year pro
career – seven of them spent wearing a Fresno jersey – following
surgery for a pair of heel injuries. The 32-year-old Spenrath ranks as the
club’s all-time leader in games played (350) and penalty minutes (1,688).
He scored 208 points (78 goals, 130 assists) with Fresno.
However, Spenrath
– who finished with 365 points, including 146 goals, and 3,307 penalty
minutes in 696 career games -- will not be far from the action as he was
named a Falcons assistant coach.
“It (was) time for me to say goodbye to hockey,” said Spenrath,
who had played every season with the WCHL club since its inception in 1995,
serving as team captain his first five years in Fresno. “I look forward
to staying here and being a part of the organization. The joy of getting
on the ice as a coach will be enough to keep me involved in the game.”
The defending
Taylor Cup champion Falcons will  recognize
Spenrath’s accomplishments on the ice as one of the WCHL's most feared
enforcers and as an all-time fan favorite by honoring him during three games
in November that feature giveaway promotions. Fans will receive Spenrath
T-shirts and bobblehead dolls during games November 8 and Nov. 9. The game
on November 9 will double as a retirement ceremony for Spenrath’s
No. 27 Falcons jersey. The retirement festivities conclude on November 16
when youths will receive Spenrath jerseys.
Another fan
favorite and longtime contributor, all-time club scoring leader Glen Gulutzan,
has also joined the Fresno coaching ranks. Gulutzan, 31, scored 372 points
in 296 games with the Falcons and also ranks first in assists (245), second
in goals (127) and third in power play goals (34).
The Falcons’
Highway 99 rivalry with Bakersfield is sure to take firm root now that high
scoring winger Christian Skoryna has signed with the Condors. Skoryna, 29,
earned Fresno MVP honors in 1999-2000 when he scored 40 goals and 92 points.
A veteran of 262 career games in the WCHL, ECHL, IHL and Germany and a two-time
WCHL All-Star, Skoryna had his last season with the Falcons cut short because
of injury last year after only 16 games. He ranks among the top five Fresno
players in games, goals, assists and points. He led Fresno in scoring three
straight consecutive from 1998-99 to 2000-01 and also starred for six seasons
in Roller Hockey International, winning a championship with the St. Louis
Vipers in 1999.
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Untitled Document
FEATURE ARTICLES
Goalies
leave their legacy in WCHL
East meets
West in final WCHL season
WCHL’s
2002-2003 makeover starts at the top
WCHL Training
Camp Notepad
WCHL honors
its own with organizational awards
AROUND
THE WCHL
November
2002 Edition
October
2002 Edition
May 2002 Edition
GAME RECAPS
02/07/03: Condors
4, Gulls 3 (SO)
02/05/03:
Gulls 2, Falcons
1
02/04/03:
Falcons 8, Gulls
3
02/01/03:
Steelheads
6, Gulls 5 (SO)
01/31/03:
Gulls 3,
Steelheads 2 (SO)
PROFILES IN HOCKEY
Enga
is Gulls’ new ironman
Danielle
Dube — pioneer, no; goaltender, yes
Greg Spenrath:
Falcons lose a legend
Grandfather,
grandson keep Gulls "all in the family"
PRESS RELEASES
Ice Dogs name
Kaminski as head coach
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