Coming off of an epic, Stanley-cup winning season, the Vegas Golden Knights have been riding a post-season high. Winning the championship game five at home (T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas) was a franchise first for the 2022-2023 pro hockey team. As the final buzzer rang and black and gold confetti fell on the ice, the team celebrated their 9-3 victory, taking the series against the Florida Panthers 4-1.
While the immediate parades and fanfare took place on Las Vegas soil, the celebration continued throughout the summer, and into early fall, incorporating other mountain west cities where the Golden Knights count their fandom. Reno, of course, was part of the party. But the Biggest Little City enjoyed more than a stop on the Golden Knights annual road trip. In fact, Nevada’s other big city has partnered with the Vegas Golden Knights, who were founded in 2017, for years.
Championing Youth Hockey
The biggest impact the Golden Knights has on Reno is through its youth hockey partnership. With its NHL-affiliate Learn to Play program, Reno Ice entered the world of competitive youth ice hockey in 2021, after the Jennifer M. O'Neal Community Ice Arena opened its doors. “Despite being in Vegas, we’re still in Nevada and having the connection to Reno has been an important priority to us right from day one,” says Eric Tosi, chief marketing officer for the Golden Knights.
The biggest part of that partnership is through the Learn to Play and Continue to Play programs, seasonal 16-week sessions that teach the sport of hockey to kids as young as five years old. It’s a program that exists across the country with NHL teams.
At Reno Ice, Learn to Play and Continue to Play kids don Golden Knights jerseys and gear. Every player gets a hockey bag, stick, helmet, and all of the necessary pads to play hockey for a low cost thanks to NHL subsidizing. The gear is paid for by the NHL Players Association. The fees stay at the rink.
When asked why the Golden Knights decided to support the Reno program, Darren Eliot, senior vice president of hockey programming and facility operations as well as a part-time broadcaster, said honestly, “we don’t want them to be [San Jose] Sharks fans,” which is where the sponsorship would have gone had the Golden Knights not stepped in.
Additional support has come in the form of inter-league jamborees and events that bring Las Vegas youth hockey teams to Reno and vice versa.
Invigorating the Community
Another part of the puzzle is making games accessible to Reno residents. Additional broadcast partnerships have made viewership easier, so that even with regular cable, fans can watch every Golden Knights game all season long.
Tosi says the Golden Knights franchise, “consider ourselves fortunate to have that support” from Reno. At the Road Trip event, several members of the cast including Chance the mascot, dancers and cheerleaders, were on-site at Reno Ice to interact and take photos with fans, alongside Reno’s other famous mascots, Archie from the Reno Aces and Alphie, Wolfie Jr., and Luna from University of Nevada, Reno.
The Stanley Cup also came to Reno this fall for a fan viewing. Unlike other sports leagues that dole out new trophies each year, there is only one Stanley Cup that changes hands every season. Any player who has ever won an NHL championship has laid hands on that cup.
Tosi says the Golden Knights have every intention of continuing their pop-up clinics and community activations in Reno. Some of those events include sanctioned watch parties, planned in partnership with the Reno Sparks Chamber of Commerce. Skate and watch parties are also, hopefully, on the horizon.
With the seventh season underway, Tosi says you’ll only see more of the Golden Knights in Reno. “We love the support,” he says. “Now that we’re Stanley Cup champions too, we look forward to growing and continuing to fan that fervor.”
“To me, Reno is really important… we know that the Golden Knights resonate much further than [Las Vegas]” - Darren Eliot, Sr. VP of Hockey Programming and Facility Operations