Columnist Ron Kantowski: Hockey is back in town after 4-year hiatus

Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2003 | 10:04 a.m.

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

The box score will show that Marc Magliarditi, Greg Day and Chris Kenady were the first, second and third stars of the first home game in Las Vegas Wranglers hockey history Tuesday night.

But on my scorecard, those guys were the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 stars. The real No. 1 star was the building -- as they say in hockey -- in which they were skating.

More than 7,000 fans packed the fantastic Orleans Arena on a World Series night to welcome pro hockey back to Las Vegas after a four-year sabbatical. But the night had a much different feel than when the Las Vegas Thunder made its debut in 1993.

Based on the number of Thunder jerseys in the crowd, this wasn't the first time that most on hand had been exposed to hockey. But based on the conversations I overheard before the game and between periods, it was the first time anybody had seen marble floors on the concourse of a hockey arena.

Chicago Stadium, it ain't. It's not often you go to a hockey game and feel underdressed.

Perhaps it is fitting that the arena shared center stage with the Wranglers, because if hockey is going to succeed here long term, the arena will most likely be the reason. In fact, on the first day I saw it, I made the observation that if the Orleans Arena had been around five years ago, the Thunder would never have gone down under.

The Thunder played in the Thomas & Mack Center, which had to be retro-fitted for hockey. It was sort of like trying to put Liz Taylor in a size 5. The T&M is a great basketball venue but for hockey, it was like Bob Horner in a double-knit uniform. Nobody seemed comfortable, and the sight lines were so bad you had to have Marty Feldman eyes to see the puck in all four corners.

On top of that, the Thunder's lease with the T&M must have been negotiated by a used car salesman. While it was not totally to blame for the franchise's demise, the Thunder and the T&M had a landlord-tenant relationship that seemed to get progressively cooler. It was like the Thunder kept scribbling on the walls, until the T&M finally got tired of painting them.

The Wranglers and the Orleans seem more like partners, instead of lessee and lessor. That might explain why Michael Gaughan, who owns the arena and the casino it is attached to, was wearing a Wranglers jersey with his name on it Tuesday, as if he were about to become the team's emergency goaltender.

As we stepped out of his suite to admire the gigantic arched windows on the concourse that Gaughan put in almost an afterthought, providing yet another stupendous view of the city, I asked him how many of the 7,208 people at the hockey game he expected to stroll through the casino on their way out.

"We'll find out in about an hour," he said.

Provided hockey fans take a shift at the blackjack table or roulette wheel, the Wranglers' future could be more secure than a two-goal lead with Ken Dryden between the pipes.

"Hopefully, we'll still be talking in five years," said Charles Davenport, the team's co-owner, after I wished him well.

Actually, given our city's dubious record as a minor league sports town, maybe three years would be a more reasonable goal.

At least the Wranglers are off to a good start. They won 4-2, and even though the beer was cheap ($3 for a Corona, 50 cents off what a regular beer will cost beginning Friday), the lines were reasonable.

As for the hockey ... well, anybody who can recite the "Original Six" franchise cities in his sleep would probably have noticed there is a night-and-day difference between the NHL and the ECHL. I'm no Scotty Bowman, but in my estimation, the Thunder would have skated circles around the Wranglers.

And Oggy Ogelthorpe, the last three guys cut by Mystery, Alaska, Brian Boitano and Dorothy Hamill could have beaten the Condors.

And what's up with those Bakersfield uniforms? For starters, they featured a Channel 17 patch, which I'm assuming is a local TV station and one of the team's sponsors. Chico's Bail Bonds apparently wasn't interested. The bottom of the Condors' jerseys depicted some sort of landscape, only it couldn't have been Bakersfield, because they left off the truck stops.

But based on the smiles I saw in the stands, it could have been six guys from Saskatoon against six guys from Moose Jaw and the majority of the Wranglers' fans wouldn't have known the difference.

Hockey was back, and that's all that mattered.