Golden Knights Ring In Chinese New Year At Mandarin Oriental

In Vegas culture it’s the Year of the Golden Knight, in Chinese culture it’s the Year of the Rooster. In a ceremony at the Mandarin Oriental yesterday the two met, exchanged pleasantries, hockey sticks, and golden roosters in an attempt to create a symbiotic relationship that could truly turn the Vegas Golden Knights into the worldwide brand The Creator is hoping it becomes.

Now, obviously, the ceremonial exchange of a left handed hockey stick with the words Vegas Golden Knights on it for a golden rooster aptly named Stanley by the GM of Mandarin Oriental is hardly going to do anything to form a relationship with the Asian fan base the NHL has yet to capture. But the gesture is just the beginning.

The Vegas Golden Knights plan to attract fans from all over the world, including the world’s largest market, and the NHL’s smallest, China. It’s quite the tall task, but if even a small part of the eastern hemisphere adopts the Golden Knights as their own, look out.

Think of this as a the ribbon cutting ceremony, the only difference is this relationship is going to be much slower growing and much more difficult to see than what’s going on at the site of the last VGK ribbon cutting.

They’ve proven their commitment to the military. Now shown the beginning of an engagement with the Asian market. Next up, diving into the lifeblood of the organization, Las Vegas locals. Though I can’t get into much of what’s scheduled (was asked politely to wait until the press releases come out), there’s a lot on the plate in the coming months, and likely weeks.

Ok, enough about that, let’s see some Rooster pictures!

FRONT ROW: Peter Sadowski, Kerry Bubolz, Nehme Abouzeid BACK ROW: Donald Bowman (Mandarin Oriental GM), The Creator, Steve Sisolak (Clark County Commission Chairman)

LEFT TO RIGHT: Dan Marrazza, Kerry Bubolz, Eric Tosi, Carley Sisolak, Nehme Abouzeid, Kim Frank, Dan Hanneke, Todd Pollock, Steven Duffy