Columnist Ron Kantowski: Las Vegas’ ‘Mr. Hockey’ skates shift in NHL

Friday, April 11, 2003 | 9:44 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

It had been nearly four years since I had spoken with Bob Strumm, who for my money will always be "Mister Hockey" in Las Vegas.

It's hard to believe it has been that long since the Las Vegas Thunder of the International Hockey League, like the "I" itself, died a slow death. Some have said Strumm was at least partly responsible, because he spent a lot of Hank and Ken Stickney's money on players that were better than most in the IHL.

But never let it been said the man didn't know his hockey. No fewer than six of Strumm's Las Vegas recruits -- Curtis Joseph and Manny Legace in Detroit, Alexei Yashin with the New York Islanders, Radek Bonk in Ottawa, Pavol Demitra in St. Louis and Ruslan Salei in Anaheim -- are key members of their NHL playoff teams.

"At least I thought I knew hockey. After (Wednesday) night, I'm not too sure," Strumm said, noting opening night of the playoffs on which three of the favorites -- Ottawa (vs. the Islanders), Philadelphia (vs. Toronto) and Dallas (vs. Edmonton) -- were beaten. The trend continued Thursday as the underdogs went 4-for-4.

But in hockey, they often do things bass ackwards, which might explain why there have been more songs written about Zambonis than Brett Hull, and why Strumm sought colder climates upon leaving Las Vegas.

He's now in his fourth year with the Columbus Blue Jackets, having been named director of pro scouting for the fledgling NHL franchise in July 2001 after spending three years as a scout.

With the playoffs gearing up -- and even though Blue Jackets weren't invited -- I placed several calls to Strumm in Columbus. I figured he would be there or in a real NHL city, lacing his skates up tight and letting his beard grow in as the marathon for the right to drink Molson's Golden from Lord Stanley's Cup was about to begin.

On Thursday, I finally tracked him down. In Las Vegas. It turns out that Strumm enjoyed his six years here so much that he couldn't bear the thought of totally leaving. He still gets his mail here, at a home he's minding for Ken Stickney, his old boss.

"I'm here four, five, six days a month," said Strumm, who will take in Tuesday's Detroit-Anaheim game at the Pond. "I like it here; I'm playing golf now."

The same holds true for many of the old Thunder.

Ken Quinney, who scored 55 goals for the inaugural 1993 team, runs a youth hockey program out of Las Vegas SportPark. Randy Burridge does the same at the Santa Fe Arena. Former Penguins defenseman Rod Buskas, known as "The Pilot" during his Thunder days, is flying commercial jets for Hawaiian Air and also has a local flight school, which former Thunder teammate Jeff Sharples operates. Gordie Mark is in the local construction business.

With a new local pro hockey franchise getting ready to drop the puck -- the Las Vegas Wranglers of the soon-to-be-renamed East Coast Hockey League will make their debut at the gorgeous new Orleans Arena this fall -- perhaps there will be a place for those guys on or near the ice.

Because if the Wranglers succeed, they'll owe it to the Thunder for creating hockey fans where there once were none. Even in its lame-duck season, the Thunder still had a solid nucleus of about 4,000 fans, and usually doubled that whenever cheap tickets, beer, girls in bikinis or the Village People were available.

"My biggest disappointment was that we didn't bring a championship to Las Vegas, although we did win the regular season (points title) twice," Strumm said. "Our only problem was that in two or three of those years, there was a guy named Salo (Tommy, now the Edmonton Oilers' starting goalie) in the league, and we had trouble getting the puck behind him."

Strumm said if the Thunder paved the way for the Wranglers to be successful, then that will be a fitting legacy.

"The first three or four years, I don't think people realized the caliber of players we had here," he said.

He shares the same opinion that I do -- that had the Orleans Arena been built five years ago, the Thunder, which had a lousy lease at the Thomas & Mack Center, would probably still be digging in the corners.

Although the puck stopped here in 1999, a smaller building (the Orleans will seat 7,000) purposely built for hockey would have given the Thunder a better chance to succeed.

"With that building, you can create a situation where you can't get a ticket, and that's the scenario you want," Strumm said.

"I don't know what's going to happen (with the Wranglers). But had we had that building, we would have sold the place out."

With our without the Village People."