By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
The story behind the Vegas Golden Knights’ most recognizable fan began last September when his daughter brought up the topic of Halloween.
By then, Jason Griego was a retired 24-year Air Force veteran who had grown a full beard after spending decades as a loadmaster for C-130 and C-17 aircraft.
“She turns to me and says, ‘Shave your beard like Logan. I want to be X-Men for Halloween,’ ” Griego recalled Monday night as the Golden Knights prepared to play the San Jose Sharks in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup playoffs’ second round.
“So I grabbed the clippers and shaved down the beard and I’m thinking, ‘This looks pretty similar to Wolverine. I might be able to pull this off,’ ” Griego recalled. “I was about half-way through and damn, that’s a close resemblance. I might just be able to pull it off.”
Griego said his eight-year-old daughter took a look and observed, “You look like the real Wolverine.”
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Griego and his wife had purchased four season tickets in killer seats in Section 4, Row A close to the glass and close to where the Golden Knights players come out of the tunnel to the ice.
During the preseason, the Golden Knights in-game entertainment crew had some fun with the 43-year-old Griego and his new look, showing Griego on the center Jumbotron as the celebrity impersonator for Wolverine, the Marvel Comics character.
“They began showing me every game,” Griego said. “And then the NHL put it on Instagram and social media and it went nuts and it blew up. There were two million views. It kinda set it off.”
Griego laughs when he thinks about how his Wolverine character stokes the T-Mobile Arena crowd at Golden Knights games every time his video image appears on the Jumbotron.
“If I can pump up the crowd, then it’s all great,” Griego said. “At first it was silly. Then, people went crazy.”
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Griego displays a menacing face when he goes into full Wolverine mode for the Golden Knights live video camera.
But that persona couldn’t be further from the truth. Griego is a thoughtful, easy-going dad of a 15-year-old son and three daughters, whose ages are two, six and eight. He plans to do contracted work as an aerial firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service.
And he knows hockey well, shouting out instructions to the Golden Knights players as their played the Sharks in San Jose tonight.
Griego took a seat in front of two TV screens mounted on a wall at the Brando’s sports bar on Blue Diamond Road, about a mile east of Decatur Boulevard.
The wings-and-pizza sports bar has history with the Golden Knights. On Jan. 27, 2015, I reported on team founding partners Joe and Gavin Maloof chatting with hockey fans at Brando’s and asking them to plunk down money for season ticket deposits to show the NHL that Las Vegas was a hockey town.
Brando’s owner, Anthony Brandonisio, framed the story I wrote and keeps it on the wall in the bar to document the night more than three years ago. From that story to Monday night’s game 2, it’s been a stunning journey for big-league hockey in Las Vegas.
So, more than three years later and after the Golden Knights’ historic inaugural regular season, Brando’s was just one beer-fueled outpost among many in Las Vegas from PKWY Tavern to the downtown events center that was packed with hockey fans screaming for joy when a humble Swede by the name of William Karlsson fired in a game-winning goal as the Golden Knights defeated the Sharks, 4-3, in OT.
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“If you weren’t a hockey fan, now you are,” Brandonisio said. “Jason has become a celebrity no matter where he goes. He’s now the face of the fans.”
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Griego was already hitting Brando’s for beer and wings before the Golden Knights were born.
Now, it’s his go-to place for Golden Knights’ away playoff games.
He’s talking to the TV screen during the entire game.
When the Golden Knights seize a 3-1 lead in the second period, Griego says, “Let’s go boys. Let’s take command of the game. We”ll out-skill these guys.”
With the Golden Knights clinging to a 3-2 lead late in the third period, Griego says, “Let’s go Flower. Keep us in there baby.”
And then after the Sharks tie the score late in the third period, Griego urges on the Knights, “Let’s go boys. First one to score, wins.”
Moments later, Karlsson fires in the winning goal and Griego springs from his seat and it’s high fives for everyone.
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