The 2017-2018 Hockey season has begun and the 31 teams are ready to play.  This year there is a new team,  the Las Vegas Golden Knights. The Vegas Golden Knights are based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area.  This is a new team and they are ready to show what they got.  They are a part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference.

The Golden Knights have been practicing at their practice facility which was previously open for public use. However, on Monday September 18, 2017, the City National Arena officially opened.  The arena is located in Southern Nevada near the City National headquarters. The arena features two N.H.L. sized ice rinks for team and public use.  The public will now have to work around the team’s schedule, and not the other way around.  This arena will provide a home base for the Knights.  Along with that, it will be open for public team and skating use like many other professional ice rinks.

C.E.O. and bank chairman of City National states, “City National is proud to become the official bank of the Vegas Golden Knights to put our name on the team’s outstanding new City National Arena across the street from our banking headquarters.”  This is very exciting for the Las Vegas area.  This will be good for both the bank and the city arena, as well as open many sport opportunities for kids that did not have an ice rink to play on and as well as be the home to the Knights.  This will be a good chance to learn more about hockey for the people who were not informed about it before.  It also gives people a chance to witness a game for those who didn’t have a rink around them.  

For this team to happen, they needed enough team members to play.  So they needed to recruit players during the National Hockey League draft for the 2017-2018 draft.  Several teams lost their players to the Knights during the NHL draft this year.  This was a devastation to hardcore hockey fans as well as the coaches and team members. Battlefield High School freshman Katie Budovec states, “I was very upset when The Golden Knights came in because they took some of the best players on some of the best teams.”  This is how many  hockey fans feel after the 2017-2018 season draft.

In late June, The Las Vegas Golden Knights held an event to release their new players and jerseys for the upcoming season.  The Golden Knights Goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury, took the ice in front of all the new fans.  After winning 3 Stanley Cup Championships with The Pittsburgh Penguins, Fleury is ready for a fresh start with the Las Vegas Golden Knights. “I didn’t know that was coming,” and further adds, “I was a little surprised that. That was a warm welcome, and I’m getting excited about it,” Fleury says after stepping out on the ice to see the fans in a news article with Fox Sports.  All in all everything is falling into place for the upcoming hockey season.