Golden Knights Owner Bill Foley originally "set a timeline for success" that had the first-year team making the playoffs in three years and winning the Stanley Cup in six, but with the team having the "best start for an expansion team in NHL history, the timeline has been altered," according to Jesse Granger of the LAS VEGAS SUN. Foley: "I would say that instead of being on a six-year plan we need to be on a shorter plan." He added, "We are pleasantly surprised. We knew we'd be competitive but you never know how things are going to come together." Foley early in the season "watched games from an event-level suite, spending most of the contest socializing." But he "quickly drew tired of that, and wanted a better view of the action." Foley: "I just couldn’t see the game quite as well, so I moved to an upstairs suite so I could see it better." He now sits with GM George McPhee and Assistant GM Kelly McCrimmon and said, "I’m learning so much from these guys. I'm all about strategy." Foley said that people "often visit him during the game and he'll make brief acquaintances before turning his attention back to the action." Foley: "People think I'm antisocial but I'm working. I'm watching the game." Granger noted following a win, Foley makes his way down to the locker room and congratulates the players before heading home." Foley: "I've never had more fun than I'm having with this hockey team. The games are so exhilarating. When I go home after a game [I] can't go to sleep until 1-1:30 a.m. It's insane." Granger noted the winning has "certainly helped grow the fanbase at a much faster rate than anyone expected, but the Golden Knights' efforts in the community deserve a lot of the credit as well." Foley: "I believe we're doing more than most expected. The team feeds off of the community, and the community feeds off of the team" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 1/7).
MAKING THEIR MARK: In N.Y., Brett Cyrgalis writes what the Golden Knights have done so far "exceeds any expectations in the history of expansion teams." The team has "engaged this strange city in the desert" and are now a "big-time show in a town full of them." Coach Gerard Gallant said, "People are coming to our games, they love coming to our games. Our practices are almost full every day at the practice facility." Cyrgalis writes the NHL "took a chance putting this team here, and the league tried to help its immediate success by setting up the expansion draft in such a way" that Foley was "not wasting" his $500M expansion fee. McPhee was "given the chance to build a competitive team, quite a bit different from years past" (N.Y. POST, 1/8). Gallant said that the home crowd has provided "great backing" for the team, noting that the noise level "could be compared only to old Chicago Stadium." Gallant: "There's a lot of people from different hockey states and different countries, and that helps grow it even more. And a lot of people just got tickets to come to their first game and got hooked. I've heard a lot of that" (NEWSDAY, 1/8). In Las Vegas, Alan Snel wrote under the header, "LVSportsBiz's 5 Business Takeaways From Golden Knights' Season First Half." The game presentation at T-Mobile Arena has "received the ultimate compliment when players and fans alike say the vibe in the building feels like that of a Stanley Cup playoff game (LVSPORTSBIZ.com, 1/6).
