Boys Are Back For NHL Pandemic Playoffs; Golden Knights Players Gather For Practice Monday Morning
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
A toasty furnace blast of 113 degrees of red-hot Las Vegas weather was sauteing good ol’ Matt Helfst outside City National Arena, the practice center and business base for the Vegas Golden Knights. VGK fans went inside to pick up game posters for four home games never played because of the COVID-19 virus, while flagman Helfst was back at it, waving his giant Golden Knights flag back and forth.
“Practice is closed to the public for now, which is sad but I am so glad things are getting going again,” VGK superfan Christopher Green said.
Inside the twin-rink center in Downtown Summerlin, the Vegas Golden Knights were back together for practice. The Golden Knights’ crack Twitter staff showed a picture of star forward Mark Stone, while goalie Robin Lehner tweeted, “The boys were looking good.”
These are very strange and troubled days in July, as a novel coronavirus that stopped the NHL season in its tracks March 12 is still plaguing the United States as sharp spikes of cases surge from Florida to California.
The Golden Knights are among 24 teams in a Stanley Cup tournament that starts in Edmonton for 12 Western Conference teams in a pandemic bubble and another dozen Eastern Conference teams in Toronto. Here is your schedule. The Knights play Aug. 3 against Dallas in the first of three round-robin games to determine seeding for the playoffs.
After practice, the Golden Knights PR dept. lined up a few players like defenseman Deryk Engelland and forward Jonathan Marchessault to chat with the media via zoom.
Marchy said the 24-tournament is a legit Stanley Cup event.
It didn’t matter that the heat was in the 110s Monday. Flagman Helfst was ready to roll.
“It was great to be back outside the Vegas Golden Knights Practice facility, not even being able to go inside you still felt the energy and passion watching the players drive in seeing their smiles, waving, and giving thumbs up seeing as I was waving the Flags,” he said. “It was hot out there for sure, but totally worth showing up and letting the players and staff know the fans and supporters did not forget about them in the midst of a global virus pandemic.”
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