Let’s be honest. An NHL team in Las Vegas has been a huge success. When it was announced Vegas was getting an expansion team, the owner said he wanted to make the Playoffs in three seasons and win the Stanley Cup in six. Not many believed it would happen, but they actually managed to pull it off. The Vegas Golden Knights’ 22-23 campaign was nothing but amazing.
And after an impressive finals display against the Florida Panthers, they won the organization’s first-ever Stanley Cup. Tuesday marked the sixth anniversary of the Golden Knights’ first game, and what’s a better fit than to raise their first Stanley Cup banner?
And as we’ve gotten used to now, the Golden Knights did it with style. The ceremony began with a medieval theme, just like so many other things the organization does. The Vegas Golden Knights have been praised and recognized for their amazing pre-game shows, that’s always medieval-themed.
The ceremony on Tuesday continued with some amazing viewings on the jumbotron, as the team’s journey had been transformed into a story that reminded of something from Shakespeare or the fantasy world.
The Golden Knights also honored the victims and first responders from the Route 91 Harvest music festival shooting that happened just a week before their first-ever NHL game.
It was such a beautiful moment and a well-earned tribute to a great city and a great team, but it wouldn’t be Vegas without a slot machine. The Golden Knights, of course, chose a slot machine as their banner box, and when Mark Stone spun it, it displayed three Stanley Cups before the banner slowly made it to the rafter.
“I had a feeling the three Cups were coming,” Jack Eichel said per ESPN. “It’s Vegas so it’s to theme. I loved it. It was great.”
For many of the players, it was a dream coming true.
“It was cool seeing the banner go up,” Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill said. “I hadn’t seen a banner with that much detail before. It was pretty cool to see it go up but we know what we did last year, and we were ready to go tonight.”
