Stevens scores with donation
D Las Vegas owner gives $100K to help Knights’ youth teams
On occasion, Derek Stevens will trump even himself.
Tuesday was such a moment as the flamboyant owner of the D Las Vegas announced he was donating $100,000 to the Golden Knights Foundation to be used to promote youth hockey in the city. That came on the heels of Stevens announcing the D had entered into a sixyear promotional partnership with the NHL expansion team to be the downtown home for everything from merchandise to watch parties to fanfests.
Stevens said he grew up in Detroit where he watched two NHL owners — Mike Ilitch of the Red Wings and Peter Karmanos of the Hurricanes promote elite youth hockey programs that helped bring southeastern Michigan together. Ilitch sponsored the Little Caesars program, and Karmanos ran Compuware.
“I wanted to jump-start the
Golden Knights Foundation and gets kids involved playing hockey in Las Vegas,” Stevens said.
Golden Knights president Kerry Bubolz said the gesture will help grow the game quicker.
“That’s a lot of sticks for kids,” Bubolz said, referring to the recent grassroots initiative the team undertook and resulted in 3,000 boys and girls participating. “Derek shares our vision to grow the game, and we’re thrilled to have him and the D as a partner.”
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said it was important for the Knights to connect with downtown.
“Downtown is such an exciting place,” she said. “Derek Stevens is a man who makes things happen. He
gets an idea and to bring the Golden Knights down here is so incredible to have a connection to where they want to be among the people. We needed something to bring the team down to the heart of the city where we all are, where the people are.”
Development camp
The team announced Tuesday its schedule for its first development camp. Sessions will be held June 27 to July 1 at the Las Vegas Ice Center and are free and open to the public.
“These players are the future of our franchise,” general manager George Mcphee said in a statement. “Player development is such a crucial component of any club, but especially ours as we build our team from the ground up.”