Ice Dogs Put on a Show, but They Lose to Spiders

Eleven games into his ownership of the Ice Dogs, Barry Kemp set up things his way.

Kemp, one of Hollywood’s top television producers, finally had one of his games televised Sunday.

Everything was perfect.

Except for the final score.

The Ice Dogs lost, 6-3, to the San Francisco Spiders in front of 4,143 at the Sports Arena.

It was a struggle from the start for the Ice Dogs, 24-19-6, who are in third place in the International Hockey League’s Southwest Division.

Kay Whitmore started in goal for the Ice Dogs but pulled himself at 7:41 of the first period because an inner-ear infection was affecting his concentration.

Dave Littman relieved Whitmore, but he gave up four goals in 21 shots.

After winning four consecutive decisions, Littman is 0-4-1 in his last five.

“In a game like that, where you know you’re not going to get a lot of opportunities, you can’t give up soft goals,” Ice Dog Coach John Van Boxmeer said. “Three of the five goals [not counting an empty-net score at the end of the game] were goals I thought had to be stopped.”

Not exactly a vote of confidence for Littman, who has outlasted Chuck Thuss and George Maneluk, who were assigned to the Louisiana IceGators. Whitmore is on loan to the Ice Dogs from the Vancouver Canucks via the Detroit Vipers.

“If I was happy with my goaltending, I wouldn’t have got another goalie,” Van Boxmeer said.