City may get new IHL hockey team

IHL president Doug Moss says negotiations are underway for a return of the franchise that folded last season after five years at the UNLV campus arena.

"There have been some conversations," Moss said. "In the next couple of weeks, we'll know what's going to happen."

Published reports Friday said the Las Vegas Thunder - or a variation of the team - would play its games at the MGM Grand hotel-casino arena, which has hosted NHL exhibition games in the past.

The Thunder stopped playing at the end of last season, citing problems getting dates at the UNLV arena and the high costs of a lease that caused the team to lose money during its five seasons.

Moss said the league still wants a team in Las Vegas, where city leaders have talked about trying to lure an NHL and NBA team.

"I've always maintained that Las Vegas was and would continue to be a great market for us," Moss said. "It (the Thunder ceasing operation) was never a matter of us not wanting to be there. It was a matter of us needing a sheet of ice."

Reports said that a prospective new owner of the team would be Howard Baldwin, the former owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

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