Passionate fans soak in Golden Knights’ return to action

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez

Friday, Oct. 5, 2018 | 12:45 a.m.

In a figurative “gold carpet” welcome Thursday afternoon, the suit-clad Vegas Golden Knights confidently paraded into T-Mobile Arena. A team flag hovered while their faithful fans elevated their phones and hollered.

The chauffeured hockey stars marched with gusto between metal railings that snaked through Toshiba Plaza into the arena for their first official game of the season. Lively fans stood both sides.

Then there was Sai Mendoza-Santiago, 8, hanging his arms over a metal bar near the end of the route. He was eagerly awaiting his hero Pierre-Édouard Bellemare, who stopped to greet the youngster. Sai smiled.

To the young fan, who last year was noticed by the team during its inaugural season when he grasped a “win the cup before my heart surgery” sign, this team means “everything,” said his mother, Trina Langley.

Leading up to Sai’s open-heart surgery around the time the same time the regular season ended, he and his family were gifted tickets to playoff games. The boy rode on a Zamboni and even got a call from his favorite player while he prepared for the procedure.

Now, the family is fully ingrained with the team and its “super fans,” Langley said. “They’ve really been a blessing for my family — and really — the community.”

Four months after the Golden Knights completed their unprecedented playoff run, the faithful at the plaza Thursday — donned in gray, white and gold — hadn’t missed a beat.

A couple hundred of them even arrived more than three hours before the puck dropped.

Many took photos, lucky ones got autographs, a woman danced to Journey’s “Separate Ways,” and a boy wore headgear similar to Chance, the team’s mascot. But all of them appeared jovial.

Much like fan fiestas last season, especially during the playoffs, the Golden Knights apparel was on full display on a wide variety of jerseys and T-shirts.

Cheryl Jennings, 58, who wore Golden Knights earrings and pants with the team’s logo, moved to Las Vegas from Maui around the same time the team debuted last year.

And now she’s a big fan of the sport, she said. “It widened my circle of people who I hang out with. And it made me feel like I was part of this city.”

Seeing the Strip’s Statue of Liberty donned in the Golden Knights jersey last year inspired her, and after the team fell short in the Stanley Cup Final, she said she spent 200 hours painting a massive piece of art.

The painting displays iconic Las Vegas and hockey symbols. The center, which is occupied by a Golden Knights helmet, reads “VGK Proud.”

Tijean Vinette draped a Golden Knights flag like a cape. The toasty weather, and the fans, left him amazed. I’m wearing a pair of shorts to a hockey game and the atmosphere, it’s just so much going on.”

But still, he wore a thick red hockey sweater of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, his hometown team. He supports the Canadian junior hockey team, but also its former players. In this case, Colin Miller.

Bill Donaldson’s face was caked with gold paint, his head topped by a wig of plastic golden strands. “I’m a huge Knights fan; I love the game of hockey,” said the 55-year-old cabdriver. He said the team emerged at the perfect time, especially after the Las Vegas mass shooting.

After the Stanley Cup Final, Donaldson kept a calendar. Anticipating Thursday’s season opener, he would cross out each day.

“It was a long, hot summer,” he said.