32 NHL Cities in 32 Days: Vegas Golden Knights

Alexis Bazydola
May 30, 2020
3 min read

The Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Located on the Vegas Strip, T-Mobile Arena is the home of the Vegas Golden Knights. Opening in 2016, the arena is used not only for Knights games but other sporting events including MMA and boxing. The venue can hold 18,500 hockey fans for a home game. UFC is also a primary tenant of the building. Since its opening, it has also host various concerts including Guns N’ Roses, Billy, Joel, George Strait, Gwen Stefani, Coldplay and many more.

Team History

The idea of having a hockey team in Vegas has been an idea for a long time. While the league hosted exhibition games and the NHL Awards within the city, fans were ready to have a team of their own. In December 2014, the NHL allowed Bill Foley to host a season ticket drive. By April 2015, he had secured his goal of 10,000 deposits. In June, the league opened the window for prospective owners to make their bids. In June 2016, the league owners approved the bid for a team in Las Vegas to begin play in 2017-18.

George McPhee was announced as the general manager with Gerard Gallant being announced as the first head coach shortly after. The first season in the league was full of records for the Knights including most points for an expansion team with 84 and wins in a debut season. For the first time since the Edmonton Oilers and the Hartford Whalers, the Knights clinched a playoff berth. The Knights also were awarded the Pacific Division title.

The first year in the playoffs was full of excitement for the Knights as they advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. They swept the LA Kings in the first round, defeated the San Jose Sharks in the second round in six games, and beat the Winnipeg Jets in the Conference Finals. They became just the third NHL team to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals in their inaugural season behind the Toronto Arenas in 1918 and the St. Louis Blues in 1968. They were not able to capture their first Cup title that year, however, after losing to the Washington Capitals in five games.

Since then the Knights returned to the playoffs in 2019, but were eliminated in the first round. Gallant was fired as head coach during the 2019-20 season with Peter DeBoer being named his replacement. At the pause of the current 19-20 season, the Knights sit at 8th in the league with 86 points. They will advance to the playoffs.

Fanbase & Traditions

The team’s mascot, Chance, is a Gila monster and unveiled at the team’s second home game in 2017. The Knights opted against using a knight as their mascot as they felt it was not very child friendly.

Like other franchises, throwing things on the ice to celebrate a win is a must in the NHL. The Knights have adopted the use of the plastic pink flamingos as their victory celebration. Drew Johnson began the tradition during the inaugural season. The flamingos even made their way through the playoffs with the Knights as they fought for their first Stanley Cup title.

The Knights have also been known to go all out during pregame shows including duels and drumlines.