Thunder make moves to improve roster

Tim Graham

Thursday, Feb. 26, 1998 | 11:51 a.m.

The Las Vegas Thunder's cavalry started to appear on the ridge Thursday.

And more help is expected to gallop into town soon.

Two days after head coach Chris McSorley was assured by management his roster would be improved for the homestretch, Thunder general manager Bob Strumm made a pair of moves that should shore up the forward position.

In uniform for tonight's 7:05 game against San Antonio at the Thomas & Mack Center will be veterans Russ Romaniuk and Mike Maurice. The pair will take up a large portion of ice time previously given to struggling rookies.

"They've both got experience and skill," Strumm said. "I think we need to insert both in the lineup. Our young guys have had a lot of opportunities to play and display what they can do. Now it's time to get some experience in there.

"This will give us two guys that will jump into our top six."

Romaniuk, 27, has played in 102 NHL games with the Winnipeg Jets and Philadelphia Flyers since 1991-92. He has 13 goals, 14 assists and 63 penalty minutes in the big leagues.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound winger comes from the Long Beach Ice Dogs with help from the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes, with whom the Thunder has a partial affiliation agreement.

The Coyotes sent right wing Jocelyn Lemieux to the Ice Dogs Wednesday as a favor because that is where Lemieux wanted to go after clearing waivers. To help the Thunder, which otherwise probably would have received Lemieux, the Coyotes worked out a deal with the Ice Dogs to send Romaniuk.

In 49 games for the Ice Dogs this season Romaniuk had 16 goals, 11 assists and 37 penalty minutes. He also added an assist and eight minutes in five games with Manitoba.

"Russ is a real highly skilled guy," Strumm said. "He's a good special-teams guy and a real quality player."

Maurice's tryout contract with the Houston Aeros recently expired, making him a free agent. He had nine goals, 11 assists and 14 penalty minutes in 36 games with the Aeros. Last season was Maurice's best, when he registered 48 goals and 76 assists for Brantford of the Colonial Hockey League.

Maurice, 31, can play either center or wing. The 6-foot, 200-pounder is expected to skate between high-scoring wingers Patrice Lefebvre and Ken Quinney tonight.

"Mike is a very intelligent player with a scoring touch," said McSorley, who coached Maurice at Toledo of the East Coast Hockey League. "And he's a real good person to inject into the locker room."

Strumm claims the addition of Romaniuk and Maurice will make a sudden impact, especially in even-strength situations.

The Thunder has excelled on special teams, converting 17 of 63 power-play opportunities (27 percent) and killing off 52 of 60 penalties (87 percent) in its past 11 games. Both percentages would rank first and second, respectively, in the IHL.

But in those 11 games Las Vegas has managed only 17 even-strength goals.

"Our production for the most part has been down a little bit, especially on five-on-five situations," Strumm said. "We just haven't been able to produce any goals. These guys certainly will help in those areas. Fans will notice a marked difference in the contributions they can make offensively."

Fans can also expect to see additional help coming from the Coyotes before the end of the season. Such assistance has been rare thus far, as the injured Jeff Christian and the since-departed Radoslav Suchy and John Slaney have been the only players sent to Las Vegas from the big club.

Last season, the Coyotes sent key players to the Thunder, including No. 1 goaltender Parris Duffus, enforcer Jason Simon and defenseman Kevin Dahl.

"They've had a tough season injury-wise themselves," Strumm said of the Coyotes. "We've worked together very, very well to their benefit, but I think you'll see some things happen that will even out the slate."