Ice Dogs Open With a Victory Before Record Crowd of 9,962

The Long Beach Ice Dogs’ season opener against the Houston Aeros Friday night had the feel of a mini-Kings’ reunion.

In a game between two of the International Hockey League’s elite teams that featured five players who spent last month’s training camp with the Kings, the Ice Dogs scored two goals in the third period to defeat Houston, 3-1, before 9,962 at the Long Beach Sports Arena-the largest home attendance in franchise history.

Right wing Pavel Rosa, drafted in the second round by the Kings in 1995, scored a first-period goal and veterans Doug Ast and Dan Lambert secured the victory with third-period period goals against Houston goaltender Frederic Chabot, who had a 3-3-2 record in 12 games with the Kings last season.

The other two Kings assigned to Long Beach are Dan Bylsma and Jan Nemecek.

Long Beach goalie Manny Legace, one of four players assigned to the Ice Dogs from the Kings, was impressive in stopping 33 of 34 shots.

For the Ice Dogs, who have advanced to the Turner Cup and the Western Conference finals in their first two seasons in Long Beach, the big story was the crowd, which eclipsed the previous mark of 9,753 set on Oct. 1, 1995 against Minnesota.

Long Beach had the top record in the IHL last season.