VGK Foundation Contributes $1 Million To Oct. 1 Memorial Cause, Yet, Sadly, Mass Shootings Still Common In U.S.
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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — It’s October 1 in Las Vegas and this dark and sad day will always be linked to a killer who massacred 58 country music fans on the Strip.
I recall the day. The Vegas Golden Knights had played a preseason game against the San Jose Sharks Oct. 1, 2017 and the game was over by the time a 64-year-old man named Stephen Paddock with a home in Mesquite fired 1,058 rounds from a corner suite at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino.
The Golden Knights’ miracle Year 1 forged a bond with Las Vegas like few other first-year sports franchises. After tonight’s VGK 2-1 exhibition game win over Colorado, Knights coach Bruce Cassidy observed in response to a LVSportsBiz.com question on mass shootings that the Vegas franchise’s actions after the Oct. 1 killings were one of the reasons why the NHL team was so embraced by locals and fans.
Indeed, the Vegas Golden Knights franchise embraced their role as both the purveyor of sports entertainment and emotional community support after Oct. 1. Original Misfits like Marc-Andre Fleury and Nate Schmidt both listened to country music festival survivors at events attended by VGK players and supported those who gave blood to help the hundreds of injured shooting victims.
Tonight about seven minutes into the VGK vs Colorado exhibition game here at T-Mobile Arena, Golden Knights arena announcer Bruce Cusick read a statement about the VGK Foundation contributing $1 million to the Forever One Memorial. Fans warmly cheered and embraced the public announcement.
The National Hockey League and its teams have never been overtly political. So, the Golden Knights played to give locals an emotional safe place to heal. But neither the league nor the VGK enter the public arena to try and stop future mass killings in a nation where mass shootings are as American as social media influencers.
As Cassidy put it about responding to mass shootings, “It’s a tough situation.” Teams can contribute money like the VGK Foundation and also lift community spirits, he noted.
In the eight years since Las Vegas was besieged with the country’s deadliest mass shooting, nothing has changed. The gun killings happen everywhere — from churches and supermarkets to schools and bars. And our elected leaders have accepted this as business as usual in a country with a second amendment that permits citizens to own and carry military weaponry.
A former reporter at the local Las Vegas daily newspaper put it best today is his Facebook post. Henry Brean wrote: “We keep electing leaders happy to tell us how patriotic they are but with no apparent interest in even trying to solve this uniquely American problem that is literally killing us every day where we pray and dance and shop and go to school. It’s been 8 years since the Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas, and no federal ban exists even on the device the killer used to make his legally purchased arsenal of semi-automatic rifles spray bullets like machine guns do. Bump stocks remain legal in 32 states.”
The NHL is a fascinating study in player reactions to America’s obsession with military-style weaponry and the ability for this country to justify the killings of children via the sanctity of the interpretation of the second amendment. The reason is many NHL players are foreign-born and did not grow up in nations where mass shootings were so common.
The Golden Knights played Colorado for the second straight day after VGK was in Denver Tuesday. Tonight , the Knights tied the game at one apiece thanks to a goal by Brett Howden, who scored on Avs goalie Scott Wedgewood in the third period.
Original Misfit William Karlsson was opportunistic and scored the go-ahead goal with 5:10 to go in the third. It was VGK up, 2-1. And Vegas held on for the win.
The Knights say attendance was 17,409. Season 9’s last preseason home game is Friday when the San Jose Sharks visit.
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