Golden Knights welcome fans back for Season 8; VGK announces 17,488 attendance for season-opening home game against LA Kings

ADVERTISING

Shop at Jay's Market at 190 East Flamingo Road at the intersection of Koval Lane east of the Strip.

ADVERTISING

Story by Alan Snel. Photos by J. Tyge O'Donnell.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Is it really the 8th year?

The Vegas Golden Knights don't seem so young and fuzzy anymore.

After an inaugural season in which the Golden Knights rose like a comet to the National Hockey League finals against Washington in 2018, owner Bill Foley's prophecy that the team would win the Stanley Cup in six years came true in 2023.

After a title season that lasted until early June, the Knights were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs last year against Dallas and former VGK coach Pete DeBoer.

The Vegas franchise is the centerpiece of Foley's vast business empire, which stretches from wineries and lodges on the U.S. West Coast to a Premier League soccer team in England to an expanding soccer club in New Zealand.

It's VGK's first home game of the preseason, the first season in Vegas without popular scorer Jonathan Marchessault, who plays for the Nashville Predators. Former VGK player Willam Carrier, another original Misfit, is on the Carolina Hurricanes roster. Of the original Misfits still with the club, only Brayden McNabb, Shea Theodore and William Karlsson remain.

The Vegas franchise also just returned from a marketing excursion to Mexico City to expand the Golden Knights' reach to the Latino audience, building on the “LosVGK” program to reach Spanish-speaking fans who identify as Hispanic.

The team said 800 Mexicans in Mexico City attended a Golden Knights fan fest

*

Bruce is selling beer in the main hall again, another sign that the VGK are back.

The Knights give out free giveaways to fans during the preseason, such as coins and player busts. This year, it's a pin set featuring defenseman Noah Hanifan, who takes center stage tonight.

Hanifin even scored a goal against the Los Angeles Kings tonight.

Hanifan, acquired in a trade from Calgary last season, was the poster boy tonight.

The Knights reported a crowd of 17,488 for Wednesday night.

Related