Knights On Ice—58 Seconds

Editor’s Note: Las Vegas’ first major-league sports team, the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, is in action and has begun its season 3-0. This is the first installment of a new blog, written by LVA’s Joe Pane, that will chronicle the VGK’s historic inaugural season and appear exclusively at LasVegasAdvisor.com.

You could hear a pin drop in the heart-wrenching 58 seconds of silence that honored the 58 innocent people who were gunned down on Sunday October 1.

That minute was the only time the T-Mobile Arena wasn’t rocking for the Golden Knights in their first home game. There was never a doubt that Las Vegas has accepted the Golden Knights as their team, but on Tuesday night, they became family. That night, we all became a family. I’ve been to thousands of sporting events, mostly NHL hockey, and I can tell you it was a special night for the city I now call home.

Deryk Engelland gave an emotional pre-game address, then went out and scored a goal to make his mark, not only on this game, but on our city. In a post-game interview I asked him if his goal stood out as one that he will always remember. “It will go down as the biggest goal of my career,” he responded.

It’s true that last night, the story surrounding the game was much more important than the game itself, but let’s not forget there will be at least 79 more this season. Still, there will never be a night like last night again.

Opening-night ceremonies always introduce the members of the team, coaches, and managers to the fans, but this was not your normal opening night. First-responders, nurses, doctors, EMTs, firefighters, and police officers were introduced first. These 25 heroes were just a small sample of the many who gave all they had, and more, even while the bullets were still flying. And as they walked onto the ice, they were met at the blue line by a VGK player, who was also introduced; the two walked together shoulder to shoulder across the blue line. No one who was privileged to experience the moment will ever forget it. And what happened last night was seen by the entire nation, as this game was broadcast on national TV.

I’m a lifetime hockey fan who attended my first game as a nine-year-old with my dad, so I was especially gratified to see how many children were in attendance. At first I thought, this is a weeknight. Shouldn’t they be home asleep already? Then I remembered what they were part of — and what they were witnessing wasn’t something you can learn in school.

I’m not exactly sure what the total attendance was, but I’d venture an estimate of 20,000. I’m sure 10 years from now when this story is told, there will be in excess of 200,000 who will claim to have been there! But you know what? They really were there, because the entire city was as one last night.

I can tell you that once you attend an NHL game in person, you’ll be hooked. This is one sport that TV doesn’t do justice. Better yet, the VGN last night became the first expansion team in NHL history to win their first three games. Granted, they twice beat Arizona, not a team with lofty expectations this year. But they also outscored the Dallas Stars, who are expected to make some noise this year, even though they’ve gotten off to the worst start in their history by losing their first three games.

The VGK has a little bit of Nashville (James Neal), a little of Pittsburgh (Marc-Andre Fleury), and a splash of New York (Oscar Lindberg), that’s what makes this team our team: It’s a lot like the melting pot that Las Vegas has always been. Even so, it’s a new team that hasn’t had enough time to develop the chemistry that’s paramount in sports, especially in hockey where individual stars simply can’t carry a team. So to be undefeated thus far this season is amazing. This team not only has chemistry, but the chemistry between the team and the city was on display last night.

In last night’s game, the VGK perhaps played the best 10 minutes of hockey in the franchise history. For the first 10 minutes, the Arizona players looked like stationary cones on the ice. VGK speed was incredible and with four goals, they took the energy of the crowd and the emotion of the night and played a near-perfect first period.

Arizona did eventually score two meaningless goals, one of which hit at least one player before sneaking by Fleury.

I guess I should mention that the final score was a 5-2 win for the VGK. Sometimes when I’m surrounded by family, I forget little things like that.

The next four games are at T-Mobile:
Friday 10/13 vs. Detroit, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday 10/15 vs. Boston, 4 p.m.
Tuesday 10/17 vs. Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday 10/21 vs. St. Louis, 7:30 p.m.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on this historic night. It’s what family members do when they get together.