Defending champs visit Thunder

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Feb. 16, 1999 | 10:38 a.m.

Things figure to be pretty interesting on and off the ice for the Las Vegas Thunder tonight when the team hosts the defending Turner Cup champion Chicago Wolves at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The Thunder, which has won 12 of its last 14 games, will be playing a Chicago squad that leads the International Hockey League's Midwest Division by five points after a weekend sweep of the Orlando Solar Bears.

It will be the only Las Vegas appearance of the regular season for Chicago.

But what occurs off the ice today and Wednesday could be even more interesting for Thunder fanatics.

IHL President Douglas Moss will be in attendance at tonight's game. He is scheduled to meet with representatives of several local venues as well as Thunder management to try and find a feasible site or sites for Las Vegas to play its games in the 1999-2000 season.

If Moss is unsuccessful in finding an arena interested in hosting Las Vegas games next season, it could mean the end of the Thunder's six-year reign in town.

Chicago is led by veteran left winger Steve Maltais, the IHL's leading goal scorer, and also features ex-Thunder forward Brent Gretzky, brother of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.

Las Vegas is expected to be without center and team captain Kevin Kaminski, who picked up his third game misconduct penalty of the season at the end of Sunday's 2-1 shootout victory over the Long Beach Ice Dogs.

Under IHL rules, such a penalty earns Kaminski a one-game suspension.