FOR ENGELLAND, NO MORE FLYING UNDER THE RADAR

“The day they announced the team, my wife made a T-shirt — it didn’t have a logo or anything on it, but it had my name and No. 5 — just to throw out the vibes. Since day one, we hoped we would end up here, and we actually built a house here two and a half years ago. My contractor and friend brought dirt in to build up the lot from the T-mobile [Arena site]. And fortunately, we ended up here. Building a team from the expansion draft on was amazing, and I didn’t think it would get this big this fast. To see it go that quick, I never expected it.”

Engelland has stepped into a new role with the Knights. He’s a guy who does TV commercials, a guy who shows up at all different types of community events and a guy who addresses an emotional crowd of thousands of Las Vegans searching for a way to heal after the Oct. 1, 2017, mass shooting.

“On every other team, I kind of fly under the radar. You just come to the rink and do your job,” he said. “Being from Las Vegas already helps, and being an older guy. But it’s fun to get out and be able to do those things. You meet a lot of great people.”

Engelland has made it his job to meet even more Las Vegans by creating the Engelland’s Vegas Born Heroes Foundation this year. Its mission is to publicly recognize and reward local charities and community members who selflessly help others.

The effort has started small, he said, selecting 20 nominees to attend a Golden Knights game to be recognized and receive a jersey and Vegas Born Hero shirt.

“We’re hoping to be able to grow it into something more, maybe raising money for the community,” he said. “There are so many little things people are doing that you might not know about, and it’s just amazing that people take their spare time to help other people out. That’s what we’re trying to do, too.”