Ice Dogs Giddy Before Opener

Excuse John Van Boxmeer the hyperbole, if you please.

Then again, maybe it’s not hyperbole.

“The eyes of the hockey world are on this franchise,” said Van Boxmeer, general manager and coach of the Long Beach Ice Dogs. The hockey world can get an eyeful tonight when the Ice Dogs open the International Hockey League season at home against Houston.

The reason for all of the attention is Czech center Patrik Stefan, at 18 not yet eligible to be drafted by an NHL team. That changes after the season.

“He should be a top-five pick, maybe even a top pick,” said Van Boxmeer, who plays Stefan on a line with King farmhand Pavel Rosa, another Czech; and newcomer Pierre Sevigny.

Stefan had five goals and 10 assists in 25 games with the Ice Dogs last season, when they had the best record in the IHL before losing to eventual league champion Chicago in the playoffs.

Much of the credit for the Ice Dogs’ success and responsibility for their future rest in a nucleus of center Doug Ast, who had 22 goals and 63 points last season; winger Patrik Augusta, 41 goals, 81 points, and Dan Lambert, 19 goals, 78 points and winner of the Governor’s Trophy as the IHL’s top defenseman.

“He really makes the power play go,” Van Boxmeer said of Lambert. “There are very few players who can do with the puck what Dan Lambert can.”

The Kings have seven players with the Ice Dogs, though some of them--defensemen Mark Visheau and Jaroslav Modry and center Jason Morgan--are injured.

Available are Rosa, a winger who led the Kings in shots in the early exhibition season; defenseman Jan Nemecek, who came back to the Kings long enough to have two assists in their final exhibition Sunday against Vancouver at Bakersfield; winger Dan Bylsma, who started at Long Beach last season but played 65 games with the Kings, and goaltender Manny Legace, who will start for the Ice Dogs.

But the eyes will be on Stefan, about whom Van Boxmeer enthuses, “He’s going to be a superstar in the NHL some day.”

Whether or not it’s hyperbole remains to be seen.