Golden Knights Entertain On Ice — And Off Too With Engagement and Marriage On Same Night

By ALAN SNEL

LVSportsBiz.com

 

The Vegas Golden Knights have been racking up so many wins and points that sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of the various off-ice entertainment fun and games — and weddings — going on at T-Mobile Arena and at locales around Las Vegas.

 

At Thursday night’s Golden Knights- Edmonton Oilers game, an earnest suitor went to his knee and proposed marriage to his girlfriend during a first period break. And lucky for this dude, his gal said yes before more than 18,000 fans at sold out T-Mobile Arena.

 

Then, the Golden Knights arranged a real life wedding in between periods two and three. Naturally, this being Las Vegas, Elvis officiated and fans even voted for the first dance song via a Twitter poll. LVSportsBiz.com caught up with defenseman Brad Hunt about the Golden Knights’ crazy and fun Las Vegas action off the ice.

Hey, it’s Las Vegas. So, you can pull off this stuff — and weddings — at any time and in any place.

 

“That’s Vegas. That’s what they like here,” Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said after the first-place Golden Knights’ 4-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers.

 

Gallant noted he would not even mind one of his players getting married between periods if they are not playing during the game. That sparked laughter during the coach’s post-game press conference that typically involves hockey strategy talk.

 

 

Even forward William “Wild Bill/Dollar Bill” Karlsson got a kick out of the couple getting engaged during the first period and married between periods two and three.

 

“It was pretty cool. I looked at the Jumbotron and smiled during the wedding,” Karlsson told LVSportsBiz.com at his locker after the game.

 

Golden Knights President Kerry Bubolz said he has seen couples get engaged at games and couples married at games — but never both engaged and married at the same game.

 

 

“I thought we’d bring it all together, the proposal and the wedding, at one game,” Bubolz said after the game.

 

The groom who pulled off the same-game marriage proposal and wedding was Las Vegas resident Steve Poscente, who told LVSportsBiz.com that he knew his new bride for 23 years as friends and the last 4 1/2 as boyfriend and girlfriend.

 

“She had no clue I was going to do it. I took a risk. We knew we were supposed to be together,” Poscente said. The newlyweds received matching Golden Knights jerseys with “Mr. and Mrs. Poscente” on the back for each.

 

Poscente, who is from Edmonton of all hockey places, noted he bought the wedding gown, shoes and even the bra. Poscente said it was the first time he bought a bra and had to call his bride’s mother for the bra size (that must have been an interesting conversation.)

 

The team’s chief marketing officer said the sky is the limit for out-of-the-box, off-ice fun because this is Las Vegas.

 

“We play hockey in the entertainment capital of the world and we strive to live up to that with our gameday atmosphere at T-Mobile Arena,” Golden Knights Chief Marketing Officer Brian Killingsworth said.

 

“We think this might be the first time a team has had a proposal and wedding in the same game. But this is Vegas and part of the mystique of the city,” Killingsworth said.

 

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The Golden Knights franchise has embraced its Las Vegas home base with all types of wacky, off-beat off-ice stunts ranging from Wednesday’s VGK player workout with the Cirque du Soleil folks at MGM Grand casino-hotel to a funny “Mean Tweets” video on team mascot Chance the gila monster after the mascot was revealed earlier this season.

 

Tonight, it was the wedding proposal and subsequent wedding in the arena’s “Fortress.”

 

It was teed up this way: “The insanity is about to take over,” a game entertainment DJ named, “Big D.” told Thursday’s big crowd at T-Mobile Arena between periods two and three.

 

Las Vegas sports journalist Jon Castagnino joined LVSportsBiz.com in between periods two and three to chat about the Golden Knights’ entertainment marketing approach. Check out the video here.

 

The Golden Knights have also folded local celebrity characters like Carrot Top and the Pawn Stars’ Rick Harrison into game entertainment videos and live fan contests, while local Imagine Dragons band members come to games and even congratulated the Golden Knights players after Tuesday night’s VGK win over the Chicago Blackhawks,

 

Las Vegas’ local celebrities are a diverse bunch, and everyone from sportscaster-turned-gambling commentator Brett Musburger to rapper Lil Jon have been featured on VGK in-game videos imploring fans to scream louder, make more noise and get into the game.

 

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