Will the Vegas NHL team need the support of tourists to survive?
SOLID CORE OF HOCKEY FANS POPULATE CITY OF GLITZ
Jason Zucker said he learned how to play hockey in a casino. Growing up in Las Vegas, the Minnesota Wild forward would drive to a rink located about 20 minutes off the popular strip where you have to walk past blackjack and poker tables and row upon row of slot machines just to get to the dressing room. But the poster boy for the NHL’s expansion to the city that never sleeps said he doesn’t play cards for money.
In fact, he’s never even gambled.
It is one of the many misconceptions about living in Vegas.
“I’ ve had numerous people ask me which casino I live in and questions like that which makes no sense,” said Zucker, who was the first Nevada- based youngster to be drafted ( 59th overall in 2010) in the NHL. “But when you come here and only see the strip, you don’t realize that there’s a suburban life as well.”
This is the part of Las Vegas that people rarely see.
With more than 220 direct flights landing per week, 70 casinos and some of the best restaurants and live shows in the world, Vegas is a hotbed for tourists who want to drink, gamble and escape for a weekend of R- rated fun. Beginning in 2017-18, the NHL will also be part of that all- you- can consume entertainment buffet when an expansion team gets formally announced on Wednesday.
And while the tourism industry will obviously be counted on to fill the seats for home games, the NHL would not here come unless there was also a core fan base living and working in the city.
“Most people don’t realize there’s life outside the strip,” said Zucker, who was born in Newport Beach, Calif., but moved to Las Vegas when he was two months old. “They come in, stay in the bubble that’s the strip and they leave that bubble to go on a plane and go back to where they’re from.”
Las Vegas might not be a traditional hockey market. It’s not even really a traditional city. But it was the 2.1- million residents — and not the tourists who come to drink, gamble and escape for a weekend of R- rated fun — that came up with the 14,000 deposits for season tickets that the NHL required to consider expansion.
According to Zucker, who is running a summer hockey camp this weekend, it is just the beginning.
Zucker was born in Newport Beach, Ca., but moved to Las Vegas when he was two months old. His mom was a figure skater and his father, who is the director of construction for Station Casinos, built the Las Vegas Ice Center where Calgary Flames’ Deryk Engelland, Jaromir Jagr and George Parros skate in the summer.
“I think for the city of Las Vegas, it’s pretty cool to have a sports franchise like this,” he said. “It seems like they’re pretty excited for it and for good reason, too. It will be fun to see how the game grows because of this.’’
From blackjack dealers and magicians to Elvis impersonators and wedding chapel co- ordinators, Las Vegas is not your aver- age working city. Postmedia News spoke to actual residents about why they are excited about the NHL coming to Las Vegas:
THE BLACKJACK DEALER
When the Wynn Casino asked Jim Zola if he would be willing to move from Atlantic City to Las Vegas 26 years ago, it meant leaving family and friends back home in New Jersey. Most importantly, it meant giving up season tickets to his beloved Philadelphia Flyers.
“That was the hardest thing,” said Zola, who makes annual trips to Anaheim and Los Angeles to watch the Flyers. “I’ve been a hockey fan all my life. I was at the game when the Russians played the Flyers. I’ ll definitely be going to games.”
While Zola said casino schedules might make i t tough for workers to attend, he believes the real market will be with outof- towners looking to catch their home team. “It’s just another excuse to come here,” he said.
THE MAYOR
Carolyn Goodman, who succeeded her husband as mayor in 2011, was born in New York City and went to Rangers games at Madison Square Garden as a kid (“I loved the banging against the boards,” she said).
Unlike Original Six franchises, Goodman realizes Las Vegas will have to do things differently because it is not a 9- to- 5 city. The defunct Las Vegas Wranglers acknowledged this by staging midnight games to avoid competing with many of the popular evening attractions.
“We will wine and dine those other teams so when they do come out on the ice they’ll just be too tired,” said Goodman. “That’s the ploy. We’ll be No. 1 so quickly that you won’t believe it. Our specialty is hospitality and we’ve been working on this for many years, so we know how to do this overtly or covertly.”
THE MAGICIAN
With black-rimmed glasses and a haircut that might have been created by sticking his finger in an electrical socket, Murray SawChuck sort of looks like a cartoon character — or as he jokes, “the love child of Lady Gaga and Andy Warhol.” But the Burnaby, B. C., native, who has been performing a magic- comedy act in Las Vegas since 2002, is a diehard hockey fan whose father was an usher at Vancouver Canucks games and claims to be a long- distant cousin of Hall of Fame goaltender Terry Sawchuk.
“Vegas has always been branded as an adult playground, but it’s a big step for Vegas being a normal family city,” said SawChuck. “People might laugh when you say that but I’m 20 minutes from the Vegas strip and if you were in my backyard right now and you’d think you were in B.C.”
THE MILITARY VETERAN
The desert i s home to hundreds of places where you can shoot a gun. But Battlefield Shooting Range is the only one that is veteran owned- and- operated and will pick you up from your hotel in a military- grade Hummer and let you fire as many as 450 military- grade weapons.
“We’re not some guys who looked some stuff up on YouTube and applied for a job,” said John Whitney, who works at the indoor shooting range and military museum. “We’ve lived the gun life.”
Whitney, who has lived in Las Vegas for 20 years, has also lived the hockey life as a lifelong Colorado Avalanche fan who even learned to skate a few years ago. “When the initial idea came out I was super excited just to be able to see my Avalanche play,” said Whitney. “But I might have to change teams.”
THE FREAK SHOW
If you watched America’s Got Talent, you might remember Dan “Abricabastard” Sperry. He was the selfdescribed shock magician who horrified the audience when he swallowed a mint and then sawed through his neck with dental floss to retrieve it.
But Sperry, who grew up in Minnesota but has lived in Las Vegas for the past eight years, is also a huge hockey fan who watches NHL games on his iPad in his dressing room before taking the stage. His hope is that the new team will add some of the Las Vegas flair to make the games more entertaining.
“I can see them hooking up with Cirque du Soleil for the intermission show or maybe getting Britney Spears to sing the national anthem,” said Sperry. “Once they get national TV coverage, the intermission acts will be bigger than the actual game.”
THE ELVIS IMPERSONATOR
Eddie Powers has been wearing white jumpsuits and styling his hair in a pompadour for 27 years. He even drives an authentic 1956 pink Cadillac.
The Elvis impersonator, who has acted in 300 Miles to Graceland, Honeymoon in Vegas and appeared twice on the Tonight Show, has performed his act everywhere on the strip. It’s a job that keeps him extremely busy, which is why he doesn’t believe hockey has a chance of competing against the other attractions in Vegas.
“There’s been some buzz about it,” said Powers. “I’ve definitely been hearing about it.’’
THE RINK MANAGER
Vassili Mourzine was born in Moscow and came to Las Vegas 16 years ago to help start the hockey program at the Ice Center. He said at the time, few in the city skated. If they did, it was in roller-hockey rinks.
But participation is slowly growing. Mourzine, who teaches George Parros’ two kids how to skate, said Vegas has become a popular summer training destination for NHLers like Jagr and Engelland. Getting an NHL team is only going to increase that interest.
“The participation has grown tremendously,” said Mourzine. “We have a junior team now, we have a USHL team and plenty of triple- A teams and a skating school that is absolutely full of little kids. There is a great deal of interest in the sport of hockey here. This is going to help.”
THE WEDDING CO- ORDINATOR
The character of Stu was blackout drunk, missing a tooth and had a new tattoo wrapped around his eye when he married a stripper in The Hangover. But at the Chapel of Love, the restrictions are a little more stringent.
“There’s this assumption that you come and it’s so quick and easy and costs like only 20 bucks,” said wedding co- ordinator Rebecca, who did not want her last name used.
“And that’s not the case. The ministers won’t even perform the ceremony if the couple is drunk.”
Rebecca, who was born in Boston and grew up cheering for the Bruins, believes there are enough transplants to support hockey in Vegas.
“I don’t even feel like I’m in Vegas all the time,” said Rebecca.
“It’s one big giant melting pot.”