Knights, Las Vegas unveil ball hockey rink
Sticks on hand, the sneaker-wearing children ran drills Thursday on the smooth surface of the newly inaugurated ball hockey rink in the central valley.
Some even slapped shots to a net guarded by “Chance,” the gila monster mascot for the Golden Knights.
The city of Las Vegas on Thursday hosted a golden-ribbon-cutting ceremony and “puck drop” to officially unveil the court at Lorenzi Park, the first of its kind in the city.
The VGK Ball Hockey Rink — designed and built through funds from the Golden Knights Foundation and the National Hockey League — is geared toward teaching youth the sport.
“Because of its location, it will make hockey accessible for kids who otherwise might have not had the chance to play the sport or be introduced to the sport,” Las Vegas Councilman Cedric Crear said at the ceremony. “It means so much for the kids and families in the Lorenzi Park neighborhood.”
The city of Las Vegas will be responsible for maintaining and operating the rink, while the team has agreed to loan players for at least five years to host “hockey clinics,” Crear said.
The NHL announced the project last year during its “All-Star” weekend in Las Vegas, and construction began in October.
“The Vegas Golden Knights have done such an amazing job,” Crear said. “It’s actually a testament about how you come into a city as a professional sports team. They did it right.”
Team president Kerry Bubolz welcomed attendees “to this terrific, new facility.”
“Community is a contact sport just like hockey,” he said. “And I don’t think that anything speaks more to community than this facility.”
Staccatos from the VGK Drumline snapped and a pair of members from the Vivas — the team’s cheer squad — raised pompoms after the golden ribbon was cut with oversized scissors.
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow @rickytwrites on Twitter. Review-Journal photographer Bizuayehu Tesfaye contributed to this story.