Thunder happy Duffus is back

Tim Graham

Friday, Jan. 17, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

The experience wasn't entirely positive, but Parris Duffus isn't one to hold a grudge.

True, the Las Vegas Thunder goaltender spent seven glorious days living the good life as a National Hockey League player. But the fact that he didn't play a game the entire time he was with the Phoenix Coyotes was hard to take.

"It wasn't frustrating," said Duffus, who returned to Las Vegas Thursday. "I was just a little disappointed. Life goes on."

Duffus' playing career resumes tonight at 7, when he starts for the Thunder against the San Antonio Dragons at the Thomas & Mack Center.

"I'm always eager (to play in the NHL), but this is my team here in Vegas," Duffus said. "I'm just looking forward to having a great season here.

"But does (getting called up and not playing) make me hungrier? Yeah, it makes me hungrier, knowing I'm right there and I can play. I want to prove it to myself and everybody else. I want to play at the highest level. But this is my team right here."

And his team needs him. The Thunder struggled without Duffus, winning one game in a 7-6 shootout and losing two others, including a 10-1 drubbing in Long Beach.

"He should bring back some confidence with him after being up there, and maybe, as a goalie, he can steal us a game to get this little trouble spot we have turned around," said Thunder captain Kevin Dahl, who also has seen time with the Coyotes this season.

In 34 games before leaving Las Vegas, Duffus was 20-10-2 with a 2.74 goals-against average, a .913 save percentage and three shutouts.

"The team will benefit having him back," Dahl said, "but as friends we would like to have seen him stay up longer."

But not as much as Duffus. Although he has belonged to an NHL organization since he became a professional in 1992, he has yet to play in an NHL contest.

Duffus, who turns 27 on Jan. 27, was asked if he would rather sit on the bench in the NHL or play every day in the IHL.

"That's tough," he said. "Obviously, I'm picking up a paycheck up there, which is nice. But I'm sure at some time I'd be getting pretty itchy to play.

"There's a good bunch of guys up there and everybody treated me really well. I worked hard in practice and enjoyed the time I had."

Thunderbolts

* CASTING BALLOTS: Thunder players are holding their own in fan balloting for this year's IHL all-star game. Fans select one goaltender, one center, two wings and two defensemen from each conference for the Feb. 18 exhibition at Grand Rapids, Mich. The head coaches choose the remaining members of the 20-man rosters. Of all votes cast through Jan. 5, Thunder wing Patrice Lefebvre is clinging to an all-star berth with 4,697, good for second place behind Chicago's Rob Brown, who leads all vote-getters with 5,554. Ken Quinney is eighth with 3,367. Parris Duffus is third among goaltenders with 3,864 votes, fewer than 400 behind San Antonio's Bruce Racine. At center, Sergei Zholtok is fourth with 3,412, despite spending most of the season with Ottawa of the National Hockey League. Among defensemen, Kevin Dahl is fourth at 3,846 votes, but he's nearly a thousand from second-place. The injured Chris Dahlquist is seventh at 3,233. Long Beach's Dan Lambert and Victor Ignatjev are comfortably in first and second, respectively, at the blue line. Balloting continues until Jan. 26.

* POLISHED DOME: The Hockey News claims Thunder forward Robert Dome is the seventh-best prospect for the upcoming NHL Draft. The international weekly deems the 17-year-old Dome "A wild card because he has played so little over two IHL seasons." In its mock draft, The Hockey News predicts Dome will go in the first round as the seventh overall selection to the Ottawa Senators. The only other IHL player rated is Detroit's Sergei Samsonov, who is rated the third best undrafted prospect.

* HAPPY TRAILS: It's only fitting that the man known all these years by his initials, "E.C. the M.C.," is moving on to a team known by its initial. Tonight's game against San Antonio will be the last for Las Vegas Stars and Thunder on-ice promotions guru Eric Carrington, who recently took a job as Oakland A's public relations manager.