The Swamp

It's appropriately gaudy.

So it was announced VGK/ATT hired Dave Goucher from the Bruins (he's their radio PbP guy I guess) as the PbP guy for TV broadcasts. Assume some of you guys are familiar with him. He any good?

brian wrote:So it was announced VGK/ATT hired Dave Goucher from the Bruins (he's their radio PbP guy I guess) as the PbP guy for TV broadcasts. Assume some of you guys are familiar with him. He any good?

He's one of the best. Had to get out of Boston as his path to NESN is blocked by that nutjob Jack Edwards.

Here's 30 minutes of him.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__DgQ9KD4Tg[/youtube]

Rumor is instead of a "traditional" goal horn, VGK will use an atomic bomb siren after goals. That would be pretty badass in my opinion.

For reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI64Z7Bb4N4

If they have even a modicum of a clue, this should be their final pregame skate music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3cXcS49D64

Rams Fanny wrote:If they have even a modicum of a clue, this should be their final pregame skate music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3cXcS49D64

I just looked up the translation. That song is more epic than I realized.

Brian, did I read somewhere that some of the local "sports" stations have instructed their people not to even mention the Golden Knights on the air? WTF is up with that?

Steve of phpBB wrote:Brian, did I read somewhere that some of the local "sports" stations have instructed their people not to even mention the Golden Knights on the air? WTF is up with that?

Yeah, it only lasted for a day though after there was a huge backlash.

For background, there are two main "groups" of sports stations in Las Vegas -- Lotus Broadcasting and CBS Sports Radio. Lotus won the rights for radio broadcasts so CBS Sports' response was to "ban" any discussion of the Golden Knights on their stations.

So Rams Fanny and I are divvying up our season tickets tonight. If any of you have any serious requests to watch your favorite team play in Las Vegas with either of us, try to put in a claim now. (Won't be written in stone after tonight, but will be harder to adjust.)

So both times the Hawks play out there, it's on a Tuesday. Grr.

Steve of phpBB wrote:So both times the Hawks play out there, it's on a Tuesday. Grr.

Long Swampweekend?

I assume they're already making plans for how to cage up 88 for all off-ice hours.

mister d wrote:I assume they're already making plans for how to cage up 88 for all off-ice hours.

Drive him over the border into Utah.

Saw a couple twitter posts of a rookie scrimmage last night between Vegas and L.A. The Knights had some sweet white gloves as part of their road unis.

sancarlos wrote:Saw a couple twitter posts of a rookie scrimmage last night between Vegas and L.A. The Knights had some sweet white gloves as part of their road unis.

Yeah, that's a thing. They're pretty awesome. Should be some pics out there. I'm also really warming up to both jerseys. They're not Original Six awesome but they're in the middle of the league at worst.

I can't find a real shirtsey yet. They just have this stylized tshirt with the name horizontal down the back and a smaller #.

All yinz recovering from two hurricanes don't want to hear it, but we had a pretty decent storm roll through NWLV two days ago.

https://twitter.com/SinBinVegas/status/ ... 6630246400

Actually saw a Golden Knights hat at the grocery tonight. Logo looks good in person.

Rush2112 wrote:Actually saw a Golden Knights hat at the grocery tonight. Logo looks good in person.

Saw someone wearing a Golden Knights t-shirt in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park a few weeks ago. And yes, the logo looks good in person.

https://twitter.com/SinBinVegas/status/ ... 1422522368

Yeah, we're getting pretty excited here in Vegas.

Pretty sure the Golden Knights are going to score 9 goals every night you guys.

Just bought a MAF shirtsey. Now I officially feel like a VGK fan.

This is...interesting.

https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status ... 9512418305

That seems kinda awesome!

Is that bottom right picture basically what it's going to look like?

Ryan wrote:Is that bottom right picture basically what it's going to look like?

Not sure really. Going to withhold judgment until I see how it looks. I agree it's a cool idea, but if it makes the ice looks stupid, then....not so much.

brian wrote:

Ryan wrote:Is that bottom right picture basically what it's going to look like?

Not sure really. Going to withhold judgment until I see how it looks. I agree it's a cool idea, but if it makes the ice looks stupid, then....not so much.

They should make the lines on the ice out of the names, and not just embed them into a section of the ice.

duff wrote:

brian wrote:

Ryan wrote:Is that bottom right picture basically what it's going to look like?

Not sure really. Going to withhold judgment until I see how it looks. I agree it's a cool idea, but if it makes the ice looks stupid, then....not so much.

They should make the lines on the ice out of the names, and not just embed them into a section of the ice.

I'm not certain, but I think that MIGHT be what they're going to do. It's hard to tell without any of the other markings on the ice. I agree, that would look much better and be much cooler though.

First preseason game was last night and I guess I was most surprised by how knowledgable the crowd was relative to some stories I've heard from other expansion cities. It was no different than watching a game in any other NHL arena, except it was in Las Vegas. That could change from game to game I suppose. Crowd was rocking pretty decent for a preseason game. Will also be interesting to see if that continues into the regular season.

After the game after Rams Fanny took off, met up with some friends who work for the radio station with the rights to the game. (They were just at the game, but their friends were doing a remote from a bar just outside the arena.). Met Dan D'Uva, the radio play-by-play announcer. He just moved to Las Vegas from Syracuse literally a week ago. Nice guy.

brian wrote:First preseason game was last night and I guess I was most surprised by how knowledgable the crowd was relative to some stories I've heard from other expansion cities. It was no different than watching a game in any other NHL arena, except it was in Las Vegas. That could change from game to game I suppose. Crowd was rocking pretty decent for a preseason game. Will also be interesting to see if that continues into the regular season.

After the game after Rams Fanny took off, met up with some friends who work for the radio station with the rights to the game. (They were just at the game, but their friends were doing a remote from a bar just outside the arena.). Met Dan D'Uva, the radio play-by-play announcer. He just moved to Las Vegas from Syracuse literally a week ago. Nice guy.

Las Vegas people are gamblers who are probably knowledgeable in every sport and could tell you bad beat stories for all of them.

Kings first goal last night was a Howler by the Vegas goalie

The fact that such a high percentage of Las Vegas residents are natives of a different city probably has something to do with their knowledge of hockey. Cities with transient populations are going to attract knowledgeable fans who are excited to have hockey back into their lives. I think it is/was the same way in San Jose.

sancarlos wrote:The fact that such a high percentage of Las Vegas residents are natives of a different city probably has something to do with their knowledge of hockey. Cities with transient populations are going to attract knowledgeable fans who are excited to have hockey back into their lives. I think it is/was the same way in San Jose.

Yeah, I believe that's true. Big question is how many games the season ticket holders attend and how many they sell since most season tickets (on an individual/game by game basis) will be sold to opposing fans. 7 of the 10 most in-demand games for the entire NHL on StubHub are already Golden Knights games. That shows the demand from opposing fans is there and also that the ticket holders are holding on to their seats (for now and/or for higher prices) as well.

I haven't crunched the exact numbers, but if Rams Fanny and I had elected to sell our tickets for the 16 home games games against Eastern Conference teams, I'm pretty sure our other 28 games would have been free (or close to it).

brian wrote:

sancarlos wrote:The fact that such a high percentage of Las Vegas residents are natives of a different city probably has something to do with their knowledge of hockey. Cities with transient populations are going to attract knowledgeable fans who are excited to have hockey back into their lives. I think it is/was the same way in San Jose.

Yeah, I believe that's true. Big question is how many games the season ticket holders attend and how many they sell since most season tickets (on an individual/game by game basis) will be sold to opposing fans. 7 of the 10 most in-demand games for the entire NHL on StubHub are already Golden Knights games. That shows the demand from opposing fans is there and also that the ticket holders are holding on to their seats (for now and/or for higher prices) as well.

I haven't crunched the exact numbers, but if Rams Fanny and I had elected to sell our tickets for the 16 home games games against Eastern Conference teams, I'm pretty sure our other 28 games would have been free (or close to it).

My Sharks' season ticket group held our game draft last week, and I'm kind of bummed I didn't get any Vegas games. (Mainly because the games aren't on weekends and I'd rather go to a Saturday game against anybody than a Tuesday game against a desirable team.) Interestingly, the Sharks have a new program with Ticketmaster that allows you to sell your tickets for a lower fee than it used to be.

sancarlos wrote:The fact that such a high percentage of Las Vegas residents are natives of a different city probably has something to do with their knowledge of hockey. Cities with transient populations are going to attract knowledgeable fans who are excited to have hockey back into their lives. I think it is/was the same way in San Jose.

How do we explain Phoenix?

mister d wrote:

sancarlos wrote:The fact that such a high percentage of Las Vegas residents are natives of a different city probably has something to do with their knowledge of hockey. Cities with transient populations are going to attract knowledgeable fans who are excited to have hockey back into their lives. I think it is/was the same way in San Jose.

How do we explain Phoenix?

There's a lot to unpack there. The team has sucked for more or less two decades. The arena is in a ridiculous location. There's a lot of other pro sports competition (that pre-dated the Coyotes).

I think the biggest takeaway from the last few weeks around town is that Las Vegans feel like the Golden Knights are really THEIR team. Getting an expansion team is much different than having a team move. I really doubt the Raiders are going to be welcomed and adopted in the same way.