Popular voices at Golden Knights games wait to be heard again

There was supposed to be a party in Hyde Lounge at T-Mobile Arena after the Golden Knights’ final regular-season game.

Dave Goucher, the team’s television play-by-play announcer, was scheduled to serve as master of ceremonies with players also making appearances. Drinks would have been served and stories told, most of them about Minnesota, to be sure.

It was all to honor popular public-address announcer Bruce Cusick.

“And then, of course, this happened,” Cusick said.

Cusick’s booming voice has been silent since the NHL paused its season March 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

As the league considers several return-to-play scenarios without fans in attendance, it’s unclear when Cusick and other members of the game-day production crew will be heard again at T-Mobile Arena.

“I can’t wait to be able to bellow out, ‘Welcome back to the Fortress,’ ” Cusick said by phone from his home in Lakeville, Minnesota. “That’ll just be an iconic moment for everybody. … Vegas needs hockey. Who would have thought?”

Cusick is in his 30th season as a public-address announcer — that was the reason for the party — though he makes sure to point out that’s a cumulative total of his work.

He is best known in the Twin Cities area for his 12 seasons as the public-address announcer for the Minnesota Vikings starting in 2004. He also had overlapping stints with Minnesota’s professional soccer, indoor football, roller hockey and indoor lacrosse teams.

During Cusick’s final season with the Minnesota Swarm of the National Lacrosse League in 2015, Twin Cities radio personality Wayne “Big D” Danielson was hired as the team’s in-arena host.

“I don’t know what it is, man, but we just hit it off,” Danielson said. “Him and I are like brothers if you get us together.”

Danielson landed a job with iHeartMedia in Las Vegas in 2015 and remained friends with Cusick, who’s owned a condominium in the valley since 2007.

When the expansion NHL team unveiled its logo in 2016, Cusick and Danielson were in the crowd in Toshiba Plaza imagining what it would be like to work together again. Months later, each won his audition.

“The fact that Bruce and I kind of came up together and came into this together, we’re like Tweedledee and Tweedledum,” said Danielson, one of the Knights’ in-arena hosts. “One of us gets to the ramp first and then texts the other person at the ramp. And then we park. And then we walk in together. I swear if there was a soundtrack it’d be ‘doo doop dee doo …’

“It’s been a great time. The fact that Bruce and I are tight and our families are close, it’s been pretty awesome.”

Cusick’s infectious energy is a staple of the Knights’ game-day experience, whether he’s welcoming the team to the ice, introducing the starting lineups or announcing the goal scorer.

It’s the interaction with fans at T-Mobile Arena he misses the most.

“They’ve embraced when I do ‘Knight Time,’ ” Cusick said. “When I introduce (Marc-Andre) Fleury, I can hear fans behind me say his name the way I say his name. That kind of interaction. It’s all about the fun and the fans’ experience. Otherwise, I figure anyone can do the job.”

Danielson, a DJ and program director at country music station “The Bull” (95.5 FM), serves as the pregame hype man. He teams with co-hosts Mark Shunock and Katie Marie Jones during games and also conducts between-period entertainment.

Danielson said he has remained in contact with Cusick through the coronavirus pandemic and is looking forward to fans being inside T-Mobile Arena for games.

Commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed Thursday in an interview with NHL Network the league is prepared to start the 2020-21 season in December, if necessary.

“I’m a fan as much as anybody else. As a fan I’m sad because, man, we were on a roll,” Danielson said. “As someone who is a part of creating the game experience, I miss it. I feel in my heart that I miss it. It just stopped. There wasn’t a heads-up. There wasn’t an end date. It just stopped. I think that’s the hard part.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.