By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
Las Vegas came together Saturday at Vegas Golden Knights watch parties big and small — from 3,700 rabid fans at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center to small gatherings in bars and living rooms — as the Puckworld Cinderellas played Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
The Winnipeg Jets turned the tables on the Golden Knights, jumping out to a 3-0 lead with a fast start after 7 1/2 minutes that the Vegas team has been known for doing this season.
The 3,700 fans walked out of the downtown events center disappointed after the VGK’s 4-2 loss. The first-year franchise deployed its arena PA voice, Bruce Cusick; music director Jake Wagner; DJ Joe Green; emcee Mark Shunock; graphics operator Christina Tong, mascot Chance; the team knight guy and a few of its VGK cheerleader gals to give the Golden Knights faithful a strong taste of T-Mobile Arena at the events center.
The D casino-hotel owner Derek Stevens, whose downtown events center hosts an array of sports and music events, strolled the grounds with his signature backwards Golden Knights ball cap and in a lavish overcoat with American and Canadian designs in the front and a message on the back: “North America’s Team Vegas Golden Knights.”
“I love the energy here. For a road game, this is the closest thing to T-Mobile Arena,” Stevens told LVSportsBiz.com.
“The Dallas Cowboys may be America’s team, but the Vegas Golden Knights are North America’s team,” Stevens said.
A few minutes later he was at a table, posing for photos with Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and Clark County County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak.
The watch party was equal parts watch and party as the beer and booze flowed and people waited patiently for something to cheer about.
Angela Zaffuto and her boyfriend Andrew Ferguson watched the game from a second level suite area.
“The community has come together. We really needed this after the shooting Oct. 1,” Zaffuto said. “This is the best thing they’ve done in Vegas. It was sketchy when they released the Golden Knights name, but I have to admit I own more Golden Knights shit than clothing.”
Added Ferguson, “Everyone in Las Vegas all learned hockey this year. They were worried about hockey in the desert. They’ve been a Vegas rallying point.”
About a mile to the south on Third Street at the Eclipse Theaters, the local hockey blog, SinBin.vegas, hosted a watch party for 160 fans in two theaters.
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In the front row, families with toddlers took in Game 1. Tony Litton, a personal trainer, was his wife, Jeanette, and their son, Noah. They stocked up on M&Ms an popcorn and settled in for the game.
One-year-old Noah watches Golden Knights games at home, and the little guy specifically recognizes the voices of Golden Knights TV announcers Dave Goucher and Shane Hnidy when the broadcasters start talking on the Knights telecast, Litton said.
“He’ll hear Dave and Shane and his eyes will get locked on the screen and he’s glued to the screen,” Litton said. (For Saturday’s Game 1, Goucher did radio play-by-play for regular VGK radio broadcaster Dan D’Uva, who was attending a brother’s wedding in New Jersey, according to a Goucher tweet.)
Litton watched the pregame of the Knights-Jets Game 1, where Jets fans are known for their “whiteout” crowd look.
“T-Mobile Arena is pretty electrifying. They (Jets fans) can paint themselves all they want,” Litton said.
Inside the theater, a young girl dressed in a tiny pink Golden Knights jersey led cheers with gold pom poms and told the fans, “It’s Knight time,” when the game began.
SinBin will have three theaters ready to go for Conference Final game 2 Monday after the 160 theater spots for Saturday’s game were gobbled up and sold out in three minutes, SinBin’s Ken Boehlke said.
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