Viva VGK- Rediscovering Motivation

[Rin 138]

So a while ago, I stepped back from the VHL. Going into reasons why would be a media spot-length article all on its own, so I really just want to touch on one of them that I felt most passionate about.

 

I was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. We moved when I was in elementary school to the hockey-less Houston area when I was young, but I never really identified as being from Houston, if that makes sense. There are sports teams here to cheer for, but being a fan of any of them would feel more forced than anything. Instead, I cheered for Chicago teams throughout my life, since that's where my parents and extended family are originally from. I got into the White Sox, the Bears, and above all- the Blackhawks.

 

I'd always dreamed about getting a "hometown" sports team in Las Vegas one day, but I'd resigned myself to the fact that it would likely never happen. When an announcement was made that an expansion team in the desert was being considered, however, I was immediately on board. I followed the process religiously until the Golden Knights were officially revealed, and immediately prepared myself to fully back this new roster. Since their first ever game happened to be a reasonable drive away in Dallas TX, we got tickets behind the bench and attended in person. If you look up highlights of the James Neal goal that made it a 2-1 game, you can see me behind the bench in a Knights jersey.

 

The entire situation felt like a Monkey's Paw scenario, though, because ever since I started cheering for Vegas I'd been blatantly disrespected by every other hockey fan online. Even though I grew up watching the Blackhawks religiously, I apparently now knew nothing about the sport. Neither I nor my team were good enough to participate in the watching or playing of hockey just because it's a desert. Everyone clamored that it would never work, and Vegas would never get a true home-ice advantage. And then when the Knights started winning, those opinions turned into unbridled vitriol whenever the discussion turned to hockey in northern-heavy settings. I could go on an entire rant or tangent about how genuinely awful the greater hockey fandom has been towards Vegas, I could go on and talk about how much the community NEEDED this team after the events of October 1 (which impacted some of our friends in LV directly), I could cite just how much the game has grown in the area (there's a casino being torn down near the practice facility to make way for MORE ICE RINKS), but I've gone on a billion rants like that before that have fallen on deaf ears. It really felt like nobody respected Vegas- fans and players alike.

 

But not even a week after I got laid off, the Knights would be playing in the Stanley Cup Final. We already had plans to try and go, and now that I didn't have to negotiate time off of work...it was a lock.

 

Everything fell into place. Game 5 was fucking unbelievable. One or two Panthers fans were drowned out by the loudest building I will ever be inside of. After six years (and more considering how long we didn't have a team) of everyone going on tirades about how I didn't deserve to be happy about my team, right after the indisputable low point of my post-college life...the Knights fucking lifted the cup with me in the building.

 

And with that win, I was reminded just how much I honest to god love this game.

 

Fuck you, Vegas is a hockey town.