Friday, April 17, 1998 | 8:26 a.m.
The Las Vegas Thunder thinks it can happen. The Long Beach Ice Dogs do, too.
The thing is, it has never happened before.
If the Thunder beats the Ice Dogs in their best-of-5 Western Conference quarterfinal series, it will mark the biggest upset in IHL playoff history.
The Ice Dogs won the Huber Trophy as the league's regular-season champion with a 53-20-9 record for 115 points. The Thunder, which had offensive weapon Petr Nedved ruled ineligible for the playoffs Thursday by an arbitrator, owns the worst record in the playoffs at 33-39-10 for 76 points.
"Despite our record against Long Beach," Thunder head coach Clint Malarchuk said, "we're very upbeat.
"The guys really believe they can do it. We know this is not going to be a three-game series."
The series opens tonight at 7 at the Long Beach Ice Arena. Game 2 takes place there on Sunday at 4 p.m. before coming to the Thomas & Mack Center.
The biggest shocker in Turner Cup playoff history occurred in 1995, when Kansas City (76 points) ousted Peoria (113 points) four games to one in the semifinals. Although the IHL doesn't keep records on upsets by seed, it is believed a No. 8 never has beaten a No. 1.
Such facts don't impress either team.
"The regular season is thrown out the window once the playoffs start," Long Beach head coach John Van Boxmeer said. "You can't rely on what happened, plus or minus, in the playoffs."
Van Boxmeer has been reminding his team of that this week. He was coaching Rochester of the American Hockey League in 1994 when his team faced Binghamton, a team which held a 37-point advantage in the standings, in the Calder Cup playoffs. Rochester won four games to three.
Malarchuk remembers a story much like Van Boxmeer's, but closer to home. In 1994, the Thunder's inaugural season, it won the Huber Trophy with 115 points and got beat by the San Diego Gulls in the quarterfinals. Malarchuk was the Thunder goalie. The Gulls eventually became the Ice Dogs.
In an attempt to return the favor four years later, the Thunder is changing its approach heading into this series, knowing full well it failed to beat the Ice Dogs in 14 regular season games.
"We're not going to press," Malarchuk said. "We're going to be more patient. 'Let's not go out and try to score every damn shift. Let's take care of our own end first.'"
Captain Joe Day noted the Thunder's fate rests not in X's and O's, but in commitment.
"We need to be true to each other," Day said. "No one wants to hurt each other by making mistakes."
One player Las Vegas must keep out of the penalty box is right wing Patrice Lefebvre. The IHL's leading scorer with 116 points racked up a team-leading 46 penalty minutes against Long Beach this season.
Thunderbolts
* ROSTER ADDITION: Hockey won't be the only thing on Clint Malarchuk's mind this weekend. His wife, Christy, is on the verge of delivering their first child. "The doctor didn't think she was going to make it through this weekend," the Thunder head coach said. The Thunder plays tonight and Sunday in Long Beach, but Malarchuk wants to be there for the moment. "I told her if she was going to have it she had to do it Saturday or wait until I get back Monday," he said. The Malarchuks don't know if they will have a boy or a girl. "If he can't skate, he better be able to rope," Malarchuk said, referring to his cowboy roots. "And I said 'he.'"
* STREAKING: Long Beach finished the season with four straight victories and went 8-1-1 in its last 10 games. Left wing Patrik Augusta ended the season with eight goals and seven assists in his last five games. ... Las Vegas lost three of its last four by a combined score of 22-7 with two of those losses coming to Long Beach.
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