Las Vegas NHL team Owner Bill Foley, GM George McPhee and officials from the Clark County Commission yesterday "took part in the ceremonial groundbreaking" for the team's $24M, 120,000-square-foot practice facility and HQ, according to Steve Carp of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. McPhee said, “The training facilities, the way it’s laid out, will be the best, both on and off the ice. The players are going to love practicing here." Carp notes construction "isn’t expected to begin until the end of the month." Foley wants the building "operational for the team’s inaugural training camp next September." The projected "completion date is late August" (
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 10/6).
NAME RECOGNITION: In Las Vegas, Taylor Bern notes the absence of a team nickname "dominated many of the comments" at yesterday's ceremony, with Clark County Commissioner Susan Brager even "causing a minor stir when she accidentally screwed up her joke while talking about the benefits of the facility for growing the game of hockey locally." She said, "I think our children are going to have a future that they never had before and that’s because of the hockey team, the Black ... something hockey team.” Brager quickly realized that she "meant to say the something Knights." The team name "will be either the Desert Knights, Silver Knights or Golden Knights." Foley said that there will be an "event at Toshiba Plaza outside of T-Mobile Arena to announce the name and color scheme" on Nov. 19. Foley said that the colors "will be similar to Army, his alma mater" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 10/6).
