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“This is a true story,” he continued. “I declined, and they said, ‘Well, come back after you’re done. We’ll let you go play. You’ve got the contract.’ So I re-applied again the following May. Did the lie detector, did the POPAT, did the whole thing again. Got in front of the board again, they offered me the position to go to Regina and I said, ‘I might want to play again.’ And they said, ‘Don’t bother applying again.’

“The police force, for any hockey player, is intriguing … I did all the ride-alongs and I enjoyed that part of it, but the pull to coach was stronger.”

That would bring him to Fresno, Calif., where Gulutzan pulled double duty as a player-coach for the West Coast Hockey League’s Falcons.

Which would bring him to Las Vegas for six seasons as skipper, GM, travel agent, etc., for the ECHL’s Wranglers.

Which brings us to our next story, a knee-slapper from his days in Sin City.

Because long before his introduction to Calgary, Gulutzan spoiled a night out for a bunch of blue-haired concert-goers.

“In Vegas, not many goalies kicking around, and our (emergency) backup, true story, his name is Jay White and he was the 55-year-old Neil Diamond impersonator at the Rio,” Gulutzan said, pausing as his audience howls with laughter. “Seriously, he flipped up the mask and sang the anthem in his pads when he was backing up one night. From Toronto originally, 55-year-old Neil Diamond, had the hair and everything. Came in, gave the guys his CDs …