Ben Gotz’s best of 2023: Knights’ Stanley Cup-winning memories

Hey, it’s not every year you cover a franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship.

It wasn’t too hard to put together a list of my top five stories from the past 365 days because of that. The Golden Knights made my job pretty easy.

Writing about the team from start to finish last season was an experience I’ll never forget. I just hope some of the articles that came out of it evoke the same fond memories for our readers.

Here’s five published pieces I’m especially proud of:

1. Champions! Golden Knights win Stanley Cup

Expecting anything else? It’s hard to top a story attempting to sum up a franchise’s entire six-year journey from expansion outfit to champions written on deadline in about 1,100 words.

I wanted to do my best to do the night justice. This is a story I’ll think back fondly on the rest of my career.

2. Family affair: Knights celebrate Cup with kids, parents, loved ones

One of the other memories I’ll hold forever from the championship clincher is the scene on the ice afterward. Parents hugging sons. Sons hugging siblings. Children running around with pure joy.

The Knights didn’t become champions without having a lot of people in their corner. I wrote about the special people in their lives they got to celebrate with for our Sunday paper five days after Game 5 of the final.

3. Meet the Golden Knights’ ‘most interesting man in the world’

“What do you know about dishwashers?” is probably as unique a line as I’ve ever opened with.

It’s fitting for a story about Knights left wing William Carrier, one of the most fascinating people on the team. He just seems to have an endless array of skills.

This was one of the stories I had the most fun with last season. Teammates loved to talk about how special of a person Carrier is.

4. ‘Ruthless and in a good way’ explains Golden Knights’ success

There was only one way to set up the Stanley Cup Final, I felt. Compare and contrast the two Knights teams that reached hockey’s grandest stage, and explain how the 2023 club seemed set up to take the final step.

It led to me retracing the franchise’s moves going back five seasons. I think it ends up painting a picture of why the Knights have been so successful, and ultimately why they won it all.

5. Beer, ball hockey and blizzards: Inside the Knights’ Cup celebrations

I worked the City National Arena locker room for three days at the start of training camp gathering anecdotes for this one.

I talked to pretty much every player on the team about what their day with the Stanley Cup was like and tried to put as much detail as possible into the piece. I like how every decision shows a little bit of the player’s personality and what’s important to him.

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on X.