Just HOW Did The Golden Knights Get to the Stanley Cup Playoffs?
The fans know, the experts are still baffled. Yes, the loyal fanatical Las Vegas fan base predicted their team would be “Chasing the Cup”
Some were skeptical and trying to put realistic goals in place early in the season. But down in their hearts they were hoping and praying for a spectacular season.
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Without a doubt, the Vegas Golden Knights rightly earned a true spot in the NHL Playoffs by earning 109 points during the season. It wasn’t even a last-ditch effort to “barely” squeak in under the wire.
What is the Golden Knight Team Magic?
In the beginning of the season article after article ragged on this desperate team in the desert. Predictions placed the team last in the NHL standings. The reason? No star players. Yes, they got Fleury, but a goalie doesn’t score goals.
Ok, we will give them James Neal, but who else do they have? A scrabble list of “castoffs” nobody had really heard of and who had not “put up the numbers” on their previous teams. Even Coach Gallant was a castoff.
They assembled in Las Vegas during the summer of 2017, knowing a little bit about each other and decided to go out and play the best hockey anyone has ever seen. They stepped on the ice with nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Then MAGIC happened. Golden Knight Magic Players clicked. Egos? Nonexistent.
Teamwork and leadership that is the magic. Playing with abandon, proving to previous teams they were not only worthy of keeping was not their only goal. It was literally spraying ice in the face of teammates as they stepped onto the previous home ice as new stars of NHL hockey. They played with injuries, backups, and kept plugging away. No excuses.
Even when Marc-Andre Fleury was out at the beginning of the season the magic continued with Malcolm Subban, then he was injured in October and Oscar Danske stepped in to earn the first shutout in Vegas Golden Knight history. Danske was injured too and Maxime Lagace was called up. It didn’t stop there and the Golden Knights didn’t stop winning. Dylan Ferguson, a 19-year-old from the WHL also got ice time between the pipes.
The Hockey World was stunned.
This shouldn’t be happening. Many NHL teams spend years on assembling the right team, negotiating for trades, grooming goaltenders and trying to find “line magic.” Even with all the “experts” and analysis, the same teams haven’t made it to an NHL Playoff in years. So when the Vegas Knights clinched a playoff spot after their inaugural season jealousy it shook up the entire hockey league.
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The NHL Takes Notice of the Las Vegas
After winning more than 30 games before the end of 2017, and having the best NHL home record in the league, the media started paying attention.
Articles started turning from the castoffs of the NHL to excuses on why teams were losing in Las Vegas. How many did you hear? Easy early schedule and then Vegas Flu, which is still the most popular excuse. Some say it is home ice advantage with the noise and “Las Vegas” style hockey show.
Others remind us of the tragic events of October 1, 2017. The tearful home opening ceremonies which bonded the team with their fans and the players with their city.
But, in reality, it is the Vegas Golden Knight players who make the difference. They skate fast, they work as a team and they don’t let anything rattle them. All season they never had a four-game losing streak, which is pretty unheard of in a professional sport with so many games.
The Las Vegas Hockey fans fuel this team
Probably the biggest secret to the success of this expansion NHL team is the fan base. A diehard base in Las Vegas was hungry for a true professional sports team. From the outside looking in, hockey doesn’t seem a natural fit in a desert environment where summers get over 100F and winter barely can create ice outside.
But the fans continue to surprise the NHL and the sports world. Not only have the players’ broken records on the ice, but the fans have broken records buying more NHL Golden Knight apparel and merchandise than any other team this season.
Ok, it’s a new team, and everyone is starting from scratch with no team jerseys or shirts. But many fans don’t just have one jersey, they have several, home and away jerseys and favorite player jerseys. They have VGK hats, water bottles, and are making blankets, and decorating their homes with flags and framed player memorabilia of Neals first score or William Karlsson’s short-hand goal.
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Vegas Golden Knight fan groups and pages proliferated on Facebook. (Including ours, check it out) Watch parties were organized for away games, and home games for those who couldn’t get tickets. Yes, T-Mobile arena is sold out for EVERY game. A far cry from most other NHL teams. It didn’t take long before other teams wanted to be “us”.
Player and Fan Accessibility is the Key to the Golden Knight Story
Owner Bill Foley and the team behind the players may not of know what they were doing when they built City National Arena (CNA) in Summerville Nevada. But I believe it is truly key to the success of the team.
The CNA is not just the home office and practice arena for the team, it is also a multi-purpose community center. There is activity there from morning to late evening with not only the players but fans and families.
The CNA houses two ice arenas which host youth, men, and women hockey leagues. Figure skating lessons and free skate is also offered. Upstairs is a restaurant, bar and multi-use rooms where dance lessons are held for the community youth. One teacher-Mom once told me they pretty much live at the CNA center, if it’s not hockey, it’s dance for her daughter.
The best thing about the CNA Center – Open Vegas Golden Knight practice
First, gather a team, then gather the fans, add the youth and you get Magic!
This is what happens during open to the public practice at the CNA Center. Magic!
It is the BEST way for fans who can’t afford tickets to get up close and personal with the players. The players, in turn, feed off the energy and enthusiasm of the fans. When Marc-Andre Fleury gives your seven-year-old son his stick that creates a life-long fan. It creates a fan who immerses themselves in the hockey experience and it becomes a family passion and changes their life.
