Vegas only beginning its ride with Knights
Iflip back this calendar and must confess, at first I didn’t take to “Vegas” as a nickname, nor Bill Foley’s reasoning that people who live here refer to the city as “Vegas.” As a 22-year Las Vegan, I didn’t see this issue as did the NHL expansion team owner.
I thought Las Vegas was the way to go, and Silver Knights as the nickname to match the state’s own moniker.
Whew, wrong there. Over time, Vegas rang true.
We suffered this event that was so unspeakably tragic that we became Vegas Strong. That’s how we were, right along with this team that was Vegas Born. All those titles fit in ways we couldn’t have imagined when the Golden Knights opened in October as the city’s first major-league team. Our team.
The home team’s inaugural season ended, finally, Thursday night. The Washington Capitals won Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final 4-3. The feeling in T-mobile Arena was a mix of exhaustion, sadness, with grown-ups in Knights jerseys crying and hugging. But there was also a current of gratitude, with a final roar sending the team to the locker room so the Caps could parade the Cup.
Certainly, the Knights did more than reach the Stanley Cup Final, and were more than just the most successful expansion franchise ever in pro sports, though those achievements are enough reason to celebrate this team.
But the team’s impact on the community, the way it electrified the community as a single entity, simply can’t be underestimated. I work my way around town nightly (and if you follow my social media chronicles, you understand what I’m talking about). Ever since this team took the ice, it has been the primary topic of
J. Keith Moyer • Chase Rankin •
conversation in every social event, show opening, fundraising gala, dinner party and lounge performance I have attended since last fall.
Examples abound. During the team’s second-round series against the San Jose Sharks, one friend told me, “This gives me something to talk to my neighbor about.” Another, “I have watched three Golden Knights games this year, and I really believe I can be a color commentator.”
And, when the Knights were taking a break after winning the Western Conference
Final over the Winnipeg Jets, a buddy told me, “My wife asked me if I’d DVR’D the game tonight. I said, ‘We’re not playing! We’ve already won the series! And she says, ‘No, no, the Lightning-capitals game!’”
That’s serious investment in the Eastern Conference Final, which of course produced the team that finally solved the Golden Knights. And like so many fans in Vegas, this couple had never seen an NHL game in person until the team opened in October.
Figures that seemed to defy fiction are now familiar to Las Vegans. I know a lot of singers in this city, but I had never heard of Carnell “Golden Pipes” Johnson until he started performing the national anthem at T-mobile in February. I thought, “Who is this?” He’s been a gondolier for seven years at the Canal Shoppes — a true underdog personality who only sang the anthem for the game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 13 as a late fill-in. He then sang the anthem 14 times.
In the face of superstars who took to Twitter to lobby for an anthem spot in the playoffs, Johnson sang before every postseason game.
In what is already a
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slice of Knights lore, the team preferred its singing skipper to superstar Carrie Underwood. Vegas entertainers got a kick out of that decision, believe it.
We got to know them all: The Knight Line (by Drumbots, don’t forget). Chance the gila monster, whose familiar image might well inspire costumed buskers in front of the Bellagio Fountains by next season. The Golden Knight who was undefeated against opposing characters to open the game. Animated in-house emcees Bigd and Mark Shunock tirelessly imploring us to “Make some noise!” A wave of celebrity siren crankers (Penn Jillette one night ; Billy Gibbons of ZZTOP the next). Blue Man Group parading up the aisles as Cirque performers spun across the ice.
In what would be the team’s sendoff, the Gazillionaire from “Absinthe” summoned the juggling trio Water On Mars because that is how Vegas makes a scene.
The team was not all shtick, though. It’s deft-yet-powerful handling of Oct. 1 was note perfect. The rollout of the names of the 58 victims on the vast LED screen during the season opener was one of those moments where you had to remember to breathe. Thursday the place came apart once more for the final Vegas Strong Hero of the Game, Clark County Undersheriff Kevin Mcmahill.
Vegas Strong. Vegas Born. Vegas Golden Knights. We never saw it coming, we might never experience this again, but this team made this town proud. Vegas Proud.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@ reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @ Johnnykats1 on Instagram.
Life, entertainment
As of 9 p.m. Thursday:
1. Las Vegas police seek suspect in double homicide at Strip hotel
Las Vegas police want help finding a suspect in the stabbing deaths of two tourists found Friday inside their Strip hotel room.
2. Police arrest suspect in stabbing deaths at Las Vegas Strip hotel
Las Vegas police early Thursday arrested a man accused of fatally stabbing two people in their hotel room on the Strip.
3. Caesars closer to building new convention center near Las Vegas Strip
The Clark County Commission on Wednesday approved plans for the
$375 million Caesars Forum Meeting Center to be built just east of the High Roller observation wheel on land currently used as a parking lot.
4. Panic! at the Disco survives a shower on the Strip
A clip of PATD to air as part of today’s Stanley Cup Final pregame show on NBC. Game 5 between the Golden Knights and Washington Capitals airs at 5 p.m. from T-mobile Arena.
5. Surveillance video shows frantic flight during Las Vegas shooting
The Oct. 1 shooting and its immediate aftermath were captured in harrowing detail by surveillance cameras on the roof of Mandalay Bay and the street corner closest to the Route 91 Harvest festival.