Long line of Vegas fans wait to get into practice arena for VGK practice time.
Golden Knights Stanley Cup Playoffs T-Mobile Arena 

Second Time In Stanley Cup Final For Golden Knights Means It’s All About Taking Care Of Business After Vegas’ Cinderella Ride To Cup In Year 1

Alan Snel , ,

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Story by Alan Snel    Photos by Hugh Byrne

It’s Las Vegas, so there’s going to be a party atmosphere woven into an event.

Even if it’s a Vegas Golden Knights hockey practice where free pizza was doled out to fans in a long line outside the training center in suburban Summerlin and VGK fans packed the bleachers two days before the Golden Knights face off against the upstart Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final.

In fact, the mob scene was so intense that starting Friday the crowd will be limited to the first 250 fans after people were packing the steps and walkways in the bleacher area.

Golden Knights coach Bruce “Butch” Cassidy, in his first year as VGK coach, touched on the raucous atmosphere as part of the VGK brand. He didn’t mind how open the practices are to the public and Thursday’s 11 AM drills session at City National Arena brought back memories of the big crowds that filled the practice rink five years ago when the VGK played Washington in the 2018 SCF won by the Caps.

Back in that Cinderella inaugural season, the VGK were happy to be in the Cup finals.

Now in Season 6, the Golden Knights are all about taking care of business to win a NHL championship, VGK defenseman Brayden McNabb told LVSportsBiz.com after practice today.

“It’s all about business,” McNabb said.

Will Carrier also discussed the different dynamics of VGK Season 1 Cup Finals appearance compared to VGK Season 6.

The Golden Knights have defeated Winnipeg, Edmonton and Dallas to reach the Cup finals.

The Florida Panthers, which squeaked into the playoffs as the number eight seed out of eight Eastern Conference teams, upset the record-setting Boston Bruins in seven games in the first round before upsetting Toronto and Carolina by winning eight of nine games.

Fans are gobbling up Stanley Cup FInals gear.

LVSportsBiz.com reported the minimum ticket price on the secondary ticket market just to get in for Game 1 Saturday was $499 at T-Mobile Arena.

LVSportsBiz.com will be reporting from Media Day Friday at T-Mobile Arena.

 

Alan Snel

Alan Snel brings decades of sports-business reporting experience to LVSportsBiz.com. Snel covered the business side of sports for the South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Tribune and Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a city hall beat reporter, Snel also covered stadium deals in Denver and Seattle. In 2000, Snel launched a sport-business website for FoxSports.com called FoxSportsBiz.com. After reporting sports-business for the RJ, Snel wrote hard-hitting stories on the Raiders stadium for the Desert Companion magazine in Las Vegas and The Nevada Independent. Snel is also one of the top bicycle advocates in the country.

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