Ice Dogs Can’t Stop Thunder

After two weeks of good hockey but a flurry of sour business news, the Ice Dogs lost to the Las Vegas Thunder, 5-1, Saturday in front of an announced 5,169 at the Sports Arena.

The Thunder scored two short-handed goals in 21 seconds in the second period and never looked back. Las Vegas (12-3-3) leads the league with 11 short-handed goals. The Ice Dogs (9-6-2), having won two consecutive games and an assurance from ownership that they will be playing the rest of the season, had few chances against the Thunder and were outshot, 36-23.

David Littman, who leads the league with seven victories, was back in the goal after watching rookie Chuck Thuss play well for three games.

“You certainly can’t blame the goalie, they had their top guys with the puck in good situations,” said John Van Boxmeer, Ice Dog coach.

Patrice Lefebvre and Ken Quinney scored the short-handed goals for the Thunder. The Ice Dogs’ Todd Gillingham scored on a power play to make the score 2-1 at 3:07 in the second period. But Daniel Shank scored 31 seconds later.