As part of Wednesday's ceremony archers appeared at the castle on the top level behind one of the goalsGETTY IMAGES
The Golden Knights' pregame ceremony has "become a phenomenon central to their identity, featured on broadcasts and scrutinized on social media," according to Ben Shpigel of the N.Y. TIMES. No idea is "too grand for the Golden Knights’ game presentation staff." Since the beginning of the season, the game presentation staff has "established a sense of place without belaboring it, selling hockey in a market unbound by tradition or history by seizing less on the Vegas and more on the Golden Knights." Those two elements "converge in the latest production," which was unveiled Wednesday night ahead of Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals against the Jets. In a sword fight midway through the "roughly 10-minute show, the golden knight overwhelmed a villain who had been wielding" a Jets flag. The vanquished Jet did "not skate off the ice but flew, hoisted into the rafters by an elaborate rigging system." The Golden Knights’ "evolution from expansion darling to full-fledged juggernaut is reflected in the beginning to the pregame presentation: a series of pejorative quotes shown on the video screen and the ice about Vegas’s viability as a hockey market and a franchise, spliced with bursts of highlights." After a medieval-themed video "detailed how the 'war for the West' had reached its final stage, an element new to this round -- the archers -- appeared at the castle situated on the top level, behind one of the goals." The Golden Knights are "already tossing around ideas" for a possible Stanley Cup Final matchup against the Capitals or Lightning (N.Y. TIMES, 5/18).
THE NEW HOCKEY TOWN? TSN.ca's Frank Seravalli noted fans "can’t walk five feet" in T-Mobile Arena "without seeing" a Golden Knights logo. Vegas "is a hockey town -- and has been that way since the puck dropped in October -- but that fact is amplified when you look around" (TSN.ca, 5/16). In Las Vegas, Alan Snel noted the crowd inside the Golden Knights' team store at the Summerlin practice facility Wednesday was "so crammed with VGK customers that security used a metal gate to keep fans from overwhelming the store" (LVSPORTSBIZ.com, 5/16).
