Columnist Dean Juipe: Thunder trip has but three explanations

Dean Juipe

Friday, Dec. 26, 1997 | 10:25 a.m.

LAS VEGAS has a hockey team.

It's called the Thunder and it plays in the International Hockey League.

Maybe you remember them -- teal uniforms, goofy mascot and all.

Yeah, the Las Vegas Thunder used to play here regularly, drawing a nightly crowd of around 5,000 for its 41 home games at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Then came the 1997-98 season and the Thunder seemingly disappeared as if it were nothing more than a pawn in a Siegfried & Roy show. For those who could use a gentle prodding, the Thunder last skated in its home building Nov. 29 -- and it won't skate there again until Jan. 6.

Add 'em up and that's a ridiculous 37 days between T&M appearances. By the time its most zealous fans see the team again, it will have played 11 consecutive road games on a trip that will, as general manager Bob Strumm said this week, "be just two cities short of the Rolling Stones' tour."

He was laughing but it wasn't really funny. And it wouldn't be the least bit humorous if the team wasn't winning on the road and building the type of record that could position it for a nice run at the IHL title once the onslaught of home games begins.

After Jan. 6, the Thunder plays 18 of 20 games at home. In the larger picture, 30 of the final 45 games will be at home.

Las Vegas is currently an admirable 18-12-3 with 39 points, a total exceeded by only five IHL teams. "That bodes well for us," Strumm said, knowing his team should do nothing but improve once the home-heavy portion of the schedule kicks in next month.

But something's amiss here. While the Thunder routinely hits the road in early December as the T&M is booked with the National Finals Rodeo, this season's gap between home appearances goes beyond what was necessary. A year ago tonight, for example, the Thunder played at home and it had never been denied at least one December home game in its previous four seasons of existence.

There are only three possible explanations.

1) Pure chance.

2) Bill Bayno.

3) Goodbye Thunder.

"It's the hand that was dealt to us, so there's no point crying about it," Strumm said, although the pure-chance option seems unlikely. The better possibilities are Bayno's insistence that his UNLV men's basketball team get more practice time in its home arena than it was getting the last couple of years, or, extrapolating on option No. 3, T&M administrators have made the decision to pull the welcome mat and have, in effect, invited the Thunder to leave after this season if it is so inclined.

A good case can be made for accommodating Bayno. With its basketball program on the upswing, UNLV doesn't want to alienate its youthful coach. And if he has all but demanded more T&M court time, bumping the Thunder for a lengthy stretch may have been part of the solution.

Clearly, the basketball team has priority. Let's say that's OK, given the fact most college teams are able to practice regularly in the building they play their home games in.

But if the real explanation is the T&M's indifference to the Thunder, it doesn't bode well for live hockey in this city. While team owner Ken Stickney vehemently denied he was considering building a new arena in Southern California and moving the Thunder there last summer, that possibility may not be so farfetched if he feels his team is nothing but a T&M stepchild.

Factor in a UNLV decision to allow the Lady Rebels basketball team to play its home games in the Thomas & Mack beginning next season -- as well as the increase in clout Bayno may have by next spring -- and Thunder employees and fans may rightly feel they're permanently stuck with the short straw.

As it is, those in the Thunder office are not in a crisis mode. They may be wondering why the T&M wasn't accessible to the team this month but they're not publicly speculating on real or imagined motives. Perhaps their concerns are at least partially alleviated by the team's play while on this marathon road trip.

"It could have been a real liability, no question about it," Strumm said, recognizing that tickets for 30 more Thunder home games would be a difficult sell if the club was dragging back to Las Vegas already out of the playoff picture. "Instead, we're real proud of our guys."

Strangely, the Thunder didn't even play this calendar week, stuck between road games Dec. 20 at Grand Rapids and Sunday's return to action at Chicago. The guys were able to go home for Christmas and they'll return today for practice in Las Vegas at the Santa Fe before setting back out for the Midwest.

"Road warriors," Strumm said in an affectionate tone, his team having made the best of a bad situation -- albeit one it would rather not learn to live with or have to repeat in future years.