Columnist Dean Juipe: Thunder shows no sign of life

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Dec. 15, 1998 | 7:37 a.m.

They're not winning games and they're not negotiating a lease extension.

Is there any doubt the Las Vegas Thunder is playing its final season, at least in the Thomas & Mack Center?

And if not in the Mack, then where?

Once regarded as a pleasant diversion, this six-year-old International Hockey League franchise now appears to be on its deathbed. The Thunder has become a poor team in what may be a disinterested city.

Every indicator points one direction: They're gone. The quality of the players has obviously declined and the obstacles for renewing a lease with the T&M have solidified.

Bye-bye, Boom Boom.

"They haven't addressed the key areas I'd asked them to," T&M director Pat Christenson said Monday, referring to four seemingly insurmountable points of concern from his perspective. Asked whether the two sides were even discussing a lease beyond the current season, he said "there's certainly nothing ongoing."

Actually, there isn't a whole lot that's negotiable. The Thomas & Mack -- which is run by UNLV -- isn't about to lessen its stiff per-night rental fee; it is refusing to pay for the installation of an ice system appropriate for hockey in its renovations; it wants to retrieve many dates previously assigned to hockey, in part to accommodate basketball coach Bill Bayno's desire to have his UNLV Rebels practice where they play; and it, to use Christenson's words, "has to consider the university's big picture."

In other words, an indifferent UNLV wants the Thunder out.

And while an arena is being built in North Las Vegas and there will be arenas at under-construction casinos Mandalay Bay and the Venetian, no one has expressed any interest in adding a minor-league hockey team that requires a minimum of 42 home dates.

This reality seems lost on the IHL, if not the Thunder itself. Word is the IHL wants to keep a team in Las Vegas even if the Thunder capitulates, or, more likely, moves to a more hospitable locale.

It only makes sense to believe Thunder management is already looking to relocate elsewhere, although last week's rumor of a move to Omaha, Neb., apparently was unfounded. That said, management has to have its feelers out.

Predictably, if you believe this is a lame-duck season for the Thunder, little effort is being made to put a quality team on the ice. Las Vegas is an IHL-worst 7-16-3 and so many nondescript players have come and gone that there's a good chance you can't name more than two or three guys on the current roster.

Aside from the presence of Patrice Lefebvre, there's no link to the team's past or sense of tradition. If this is the Thunder's swan-song season, it is going out with its budget sliced and its record in shambles.

Of course it's easy to believe the team is already gone, given its lack of visibility during its annual all-December road swing as the T&M accommodates the National Finals Rodeo. But this year, unlike the previous five, the disappearing act isn't completely an illusion.

It's more a precursor of what's to come.

It's a reminder that with very few exceptions, in Las Vegas all things must pass.