Joust kidding!

When the Vegas Golden Knights hit the ice for the home opener of their maiden season Tuesday, they’ll be following in the footsteps of other knights who have trod the arenas of Las Vegas.

And, it turns out, these newcomers to knighthood have a few things in common with the costumed knights who for years have frequented such events as the Age of Chivalry Renaissance Festival, which this year runs from Friday to Oct. 15 at Sunset Park.

Gina Dolci earned her knighthood in 2007 and teaches swordplay and the combat arts to aspiring knights. She notes that knighthood traditionally is an honor bestowed only after years of “service to the people.”

That’s not very different from the NHL, in which the Golden Knights, who will represent Las Vegas on the ice, will have spent years in service to the fans while working their way up through youth and minor leagues.

Modern-day knights and hockey players both wear armor when they compete. Dolci notes that a knight’s uniform, like a hockey player’s gear, typically includes a helmet and face protection, elbow protection, padding and heavy gloves. In fact, she adds, modern-day knights often incorporate hockey gloves as part of their garb.

The earning of spurs is a key moment in a horse-riding knight’s career as a mark of achievement, while hockey players wear skates. Another sartorial similarity: Knights

joust with lances, and hockey players joust — if not always legally — with sticks.

Knights receive tributes from fans, Dolci says, while “there are hockey fans who throw things on the ice.” Even if, say, an octopus thrown onto the ice by a Detroit Red Wings fan doesn’t have the aesthetic pleasures of a ribbon tied onto a suit of armor by a fair maiden.

However, Dolci says, area knights do have one quibble with the Golden Knights.

“I’ve got to say, I have a lot of friends in the Renaissance fair community who are kind of miffed about the name Golden Knights, because the nearest rival is the Los Angeles Kings,” she says.

“Knights are like samurai. They bow to a master,” Dolci says, and “we don’t like that we’re starting below L.A. because of that nobility ranking thing.

“In historical rankings, knights report to a king. That doesn’t mean the Los Angeles Kings are over the Vegas Golden Knights, but it puts us at an immediate nomenclatural distance.”

Any tips for the new Knights on the block?

“Don’t lose your weapon,” Dolci says.

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