The Vegas Golden Knights are headed to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Those are the words I wrote in a tweet on Monday night as the clock ticked down towards zero. Against all odds, those words were about to become a reality in the very first year in Golden Knight history.
I remember when Vegas Wants Hockey was an idea that was laughable to most of North America. I remember the launching of the ticket drive and Gary Bettman standing in front of the media with a sheepish “how the heck is this actually happening” look on his face. I remember the number reaching 10,000 and all you could hear were haters crowing about how Winnipeg did it faster, and I remember the owners’ meetings afterward where the word “expansion” was not even on the agenda. Then I remember when it was.
I really remember June 22, 2016, November 22nd, 2016, and June 21st, 2017. I even remember the little things like the day The Creator’s final payment cleared and the team was officially a member of the NHL, seeing Bill Daly hold up a card with the Golden Knights logo on it during the lottery, the signings of Reid Duke, Vadim Shipachyov, and Tomas Hyka before the Expansion Draft even occurred, and hearing the words “Vegas is on the clock.”
I remember Development Camp, informal practices, and the time I had to watch the first period of the first preseason game on an iPhone because DirecTV couldn’t figure out that ATT SportsNet Rocky Mountain was now a local channel to Vegas.
But through it all, every memory of the building of this franchise, there’s been a re-occurring dream that refuses to leave my brain. Literally every single time something significant happened/happens with this organization, my mind springs forward to the parade down Las Vegas Boulevard. It’s the only thing that really matters to me. Even on October 10th when the whole night was dedicated to victims and first responders of the worst tragedy in Las Vegas history, I kept thinking how amazing it’s going to be for those people to have their own float in the parade.
That’s why when the Golden Knights clinched the playoffs I wasn’t ready to reminisce. I saw your tweets, Facebook posts, and this unbelievable comment on our YouTube video. I know as well as anyone what clinching the playoffs in the first year means to the city, but I didn’t shed a tear, I didn’t feel nostalgic, I honestly didn’t even care all that much because it’s just another step along path of getting to the only place I really want to be, standing on the side of the road with hundreds of thousands of Las Vegans celebrating together.
I completely get why people got a bit emotional seeing the word “clinched” on the big screen at T-Mobile, but all it did for me is bring up another really vivid episode of that same dream. I’m not ready for this to end. I’m not ready for dates of the newspapers in the dream to change from 2018 back to 2023.
I’m not going to truly celebrate clinching the playoffs because I don’t believe it’ll be even close to the most amazing thing this team does this year. Feel free to shed your tears of recollection now, but mine are waiting until I look around and I’m standing in the middle of the dream, for real.
Go Knights Go! #CupIn1
Barbara &Peter Landes
Wow. Love your statement. After they clinched, I tried to post a meaningful expression of our thanks and gratitude to everyone involved in the team building process. After living here over 28 years, we are extremely grateful to have an NHL Franchise in Las Vegas. We have Season Tickets for at least 3 years & also had them for the Las Vegas Thunder.
Emmy
Love everything you wrote, I don’t live in Vegas but I do live in Vegas through all of you wonderful people and the VGK! I couldn’t feel more like I belong if I were there so Thank you for that! I’m a proud fan and have been since before the dream! GO KNIGHTS GO FOREVER!
Jon Parr
I remember talks and speculation about expansion, but without an arena there was no chance…so T- Mobile started to rise…
Once the arena was built, I would come across another rumor, but still nothing…
Then one day, it seemed the talk really picked up. I typed in “Las Vegas NHL expansion” into a search engine and I believe that is when I first found Sin Bin.
Ken, thank you so very much for the updates over the years. I had my Sin Bin hoodie before the team even had a name.
Every milestone of the team was celebrated here at the Parr house. I told my wife that when Vegas had a road trip to play the Dallas Stars we would be there. I couldn’t believe that the schedule makers gave me an early Christmas present, as the Golden Knights @ Stars would be the team’s first regular season game ever.
We are still about three years away from moving to Vegas, but I’ve watched EVERY single game thanks to the NHL Center Ice package…even though some games go until almost 1am here in Okc.
I hope to make a home game next season, but until then I’m planning on making the short drive down to Dallas for the draft to represent.
From whispers and rumors to the clinching a spot in the dance and making a run for Lord Stanley’s Cup….Ken again, thank you for you all your news, notes, thoughts, and updates along the way !
Ken Boehlke
Thank you for being there from the beginning.