RJ reporters recount memories from Golden Knights’ Stanley Cup playoffs

Ben Gotz, beat reporter

It was all chaos. Wild, weird, wonderful chaos.

At least between the buzzers, that is.

There’s nothing quite like covering the Stanley Cup playoffs and its wild twists and turns. There’s not a normal day at the rink. You let your guard down one morning and former Golden Knights coach Pete DeBoer is getting hot sauce at the podium to better eat the elephant he’s consuming (Don’t ask).

Everything at least seemed to make sense on the ice. Nothing feels inevitable in hockey, but these Knights might have been the closest thing to it. You run out of ways at some point to describe the overwhelming depth and determination they put on display each night that made them unstoppable.

Other teams had stars that could make the Knights sweat. But no one individual was enough to stop an 18-skater steamroller coming straight at them.

It’s the in-between moments that stick with you, however.

The endless eats slathered in barbecue sauce in Dallas. The late-night Denny’s run because nowhere else is open in Plantation, Florida. The wonderful colleagues — too many to list here, but a special shout out to frequent traveling companions Ed Graney and Adam Hill — willing to go on adventures.

That’s what I’ll take with me from this run.

That and seeing up close the village it takes to get these players to the top. It’s not just the support staff around them every day like coaches, trainers, equipment managers and more. It’s the families and friends that flooded the ice when everything was over, sharing laughter and tears and everything that comes during a celebration like that.

It was incredible to witness the players I ask insightful and idiotic questions of every day transform back to husbands, fathers, brothers and sons in the blink of an eye. They did something amazing together.

It was special to go along for the ride.

Adam Hill, sports reporter/columnist

A childhood of moving all over the country means I’ve lived in many different places.

Las Vegas, however, was my first true home.

It wasn’t long after my family arrived in town when I was 14 years old that I told my parents I was never moving again.

And I haven’t.

Yet I had to accept we may never have major league franchises, which was significant in the sense that sports was really the only thing I’ve ever truly cared about.

The Knights changed that and showed the way. Soon, every major sports league will call Las Vegas home and we will even host the Super Bowl.

What a wild ride.

To think we would not only be a major league market, but that I would be blessed and honored with the opportunity to cover every step of the journey to a world championship is beyond unfathomable.

Yet there I was on a Tuesday night on The Strip, documenting the moments as the clock ticked down to zeros.

But those wild moments were such a frenzy. They won’t be what I most remember about this team and this season.

It’s the friends who I didn’t even know were aware hockey existed jumping for joy at the thought of the Stanley Cup coming to Las Vegas. It’s the friend of my mom, who is thrilled for every opportunity to talk about the team she fell in love with on day one. Or the family of one of my closest friends, who just happened to be on the trip of a lifetime when the Knights clinched the cup, celebrating halfway around the world.

Personally, there were two moments from the clinching game that stand out. When Florida scored to cut the Knights lead to 2-1 and were threatening to tie the game, T-Mobile Arena was dead silent. Not a peep as fans, many of whom paid astronomical prices, watched nervously.

Then the Knights scored. And scored again. I’ve been to nearly every game at T-Mobile Arena since the beginning of the franchise and it has never been nearly as loud as it was when Reilly Smith scored to make the game 4-1.

The celebration was on.

But my lasting memories will be the people. Both in the community and in my personal and work circles. The coworkers I was able to introduce to Wawa, one of the greatest places on earth, during our trip to Florida during the Final. And their mockery of my terror at the thought of encountering an alligator in the wild.

The shock our brilliant beat writer Ben Gotz and I experienced at not being able to find a restaurant open past 9 p.m. in downtown Dallas. I mean, seriously, what is going on there?

But that’s what sports is all about. It’s why they matter. Sports create memories and there will never be another first major professional sports title in Las Vegas. My hometown.

Ed Graney, staff columnist

It was different because of the talent level. It was a better team than the one I covered that expansion season in 2017-18. The journey might not have been as magical this time, but the level of play was far superior.

That, and there is a tad more leg room on Spirit Airlines than most believe. No, seriously.

That, and Wawa is so much more than the 7-Eleven I had perceived it to be. Because where else can you get a such a delicious chicken cheesesteak and mint cookie shake at 2 a.m.?

But the thing I’ll take most from following the Golden Knights’ run through the Stanley Cup playoffs and on their way to a championship is the hockey itself. How dominant they were at times. How they never faced elimination.

How every night, it seemed like a different player, a different line, made all the difference.

How a goalie like Adin Hill was so spectacular when given his chance.

How a coach like Bruce Cassidy pushed all the right motivational buttons.

How a colleague like the incredibly talented Ben Gotz introduced me to a wonderful beverage called the Miami Vice. I digress.

The best part of our job is telling stories. Imparting to readers a human element beyond the box score. Hopefully, the lot of us succeeded in such a pursuit.

I was reminded about all those pesky international fees in Edmonton; I was able to visit my son in Dallas; I sat in the back of a minivan driven by colleague Adam Hill in and around Plantation, Florida., home to any chain restaurant your heart and stomach desires.

I was reminded how fortunate I am to work alongside such good people.

That, and Hill was correct all along. Wawa is the bomb.

John Katsilometes, staff columnist

This story started with a spontaneous text to George Maloof, asking about an incident that might not have occurred about 15 years earlier at Palms Pool.

“I am vaguely remembering someone being busted for diving into the pool at the Palms while trying to swim to the Stanley Cup.”

Maloof said he could not recall that happening. But it was reported during the 2009 NHL Awards, held at the hotel under the Maloof family’s ownership.

That exchange soon turned to the Maloof brothers’ plans for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. I jokingly asked if they planned to attend. Then, we turned to the real history of the family’s invaluable role in establishing Las Vegas as an NHL expansion city.

George, Gavin, Joe and I agreed to meet at the Maloofs’ Suite 11 at T-Mobile about 2½ hours before game time. They needed to talk their way in, as security was tight. The four of us sat at a white high-top table, the only four individuals in T-Mobile.

George opened a tin of mints, and I remember once bumping into him at the Palms’ sundries shop as I was shopping for mints. “Go with Altoids,” he said. He’s a mint guy, too.

I had placed my phone down, open to the recording app, alongside my digital recorder. One would be a backup. We talked for several minutes, then the T-Mobile sound system boomed with house music, testing the speakers for the audio explosion to follow.

Instinctively, all four of is leaned forward into those recorders, almost literally knocking our heads together. The Maloofs practically shouted into the devices. George called out, “We had to sell season tickets! No one said no to us! Everyone wanted a team!”

Afterward I took photos of the guys with the empty arena in the background, and said to the guys, “That was epic.” And that was just the beginning.

Dave Schoen, sports reporter

Lynette loves William Karlsson. If you see a car around town with “71” stickers all over it, that’s probably her.

Some time during the Golden Knights’ inaugural season — or maybe it was the summer after, I don’t remember — Lynette sent an email. She was concerned about Karlsson’s future as a restricted free agent coming off a 43-goal season and wanted to know whether her favorite player might be traded.

Since then, Lynette has emailed countless times. In the early days, she asked about Karlsson’s status as the Knights faced difficult salary-cap decisions or why he cut his hair. Eventually, our emails evolved beyond her favorite Swedish center.

Lynette said she grew up on Long Island and followed the New York Islanders during their dynasty in the early 1980s. Big Billy Smith fan. Those teams had a special connection with the community there, and the Knights provided a similar feeling.

When the Knights lost to the San Jose Sharks in Game 7 in 2019, Lynette was furious. She was ecstatic after Karlsson signed an eight-year, $47.2 million contract that summer.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Lynette stopped going to games at T-Mobile Arena. And don’t get her started about general manager Kelly McCrimmon or the way the Knights handled the departures of Marc-Andre Fleury and Nate Schmidt.

But Lynette never stopped being a fan of the Knights. Over the years, she added Alec Martinez, Nic Hague and Brett Howden to her list of favorite players.

As the Knights hoisted the Stanley Cup, I thought about Lynette and all the locals like her who needed something to celebrate following the Oct. 1 shooting.

When I stopped covering the team after the 2021-22 season, Lynette continued to write. After the Knights finished off the Florida Panthers in Game 5, sure enough, an email from Lynette popped up that night saying how happy she was they won.

But she also had a question about the future.

“After this,” Lynette wrote, “they won’t do anything stupid, right???”

Never change, Knights fans.

Sam Gordon, sports columnist/reporter

My native Minnesota is lauded as the “State of Hockey” and for three nights this month, I could’ve sworn I was there. Except I was instead in T-Mobile Arena, where ear-splitting sellout crowds made me reconsider Minnesota’s moniker.

It was hard on those nights to think of a better home for hockey than the golden home of the Golden Knights.

Of a better home for hockey than Las Vegas, now a city of Stanley Cup champions.

I’d covered the franchise’s inaugural game on that fatefully inspiring October evening in 2017, returning for the first time to support my colleagues amidst the Knights run this spring to the Stanley Cup Final.

What I returned to in Game 1 was potential realized — on and off the ice.

The NHL’s best team overwhelmed the Florida Panthers with depth, talent and teamwork en route to a 4-1 series victory. The NHL’s best crowd embraced every single second, cheering every goal, save, hit or opposing penalty.

Often, though, the crowd cheered just to cheer, reveling in the community that sport can create.

The three home games doubled as parties that extended beyond the confines of the venue into Toshiba Plaza, where thousands more Las Vegans would congregate to enjoy the magic of the moment.

City of hockey.

City of champions.

Congratulations, Vegas.

Allen Leiker, Deputy Sports Editor

Whenever my mind wanders to the Knights’ run to the Stanley Cup, I will remember …

Jack Eichel’s breathtaking passing. His is such a feel-good story after a rocky relationship with theSabres. Love this quote after he was booed relentlessly by fans in his first trip back to Buffalo: “That’s about the loudest I’ve heard this place, ever. It only took seven years and me leaving for them to get into the game.”

Jonathan Marchessault’s grit and personality. If there’s ever a remake of the animated film “The Little Engine That Could,” the 5-foot-9-inch, 180-pound undrafted forward could star in it. Beyond the ice, his comic relief endears him to teammates.

Mark Stone’s influence. Stone is a great player — see: hat trick, Game 5, Stanley Cup Final — but his impact goes way beyond that. The heart and soul of the team.

Keegan Kolesar’s hit. Kolesar essentially knocked Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk out of the series with a vicious — and clean — hit in Game 3. On a similar play in Game 2, Tkachuk leveled Eichel — also a clean hit — then said he had it coming because he had his head down. Tkachuk had his head down when Kolesar hit him.

Nic Hague’s reactions. Hague was a frequent target during the playoffs, but he never fell for the bait. Instead, he just laughed and even gave a thumbs-up when opponents tried to pull him into a fight. Classic.

Bruce Cassidy’s honesty. The Knights coach doesn’t pull punches. Some might call it tough love. Whatever, his players responded. He even got Marchessault to play some defense.

Cassidy’s tribute to the Golden Misfits. He started five of the original six in Game 5 (with apologies to William Carrier). Classy move.

George McPhee’s classless move. The Knights’ president of hockey operations basically ripped Cassidy for starting the Misfits, calling it “a bit of a gimmick, and we’d never done that sort of thing. … Just roll the four lines because that’s how we win.” There’s a time and a place for everything. That was neither. His first-year coach had just led the team to the Stanley Cup.

My colleagues. I wish I had Elvis wigs and sunglasses for all of them. They never let our readers down. Thanks for letting me tag along.

Rochelle Richards, Digital Sports Manager

Magical. Awe-inspiring. Surreal.

I know these words all seem cliche, but honestly, I’m just so incredibly grateful to be here.

Never in a million years would I have imagined myself witnessing Las Vegas sports history.

I’m just a girl from Kentucky who always wanted to cover the Cincinnati Reds. I never imagined myself outside of my little Northern Kentucky bubble, let alone in Las Vegas — a city that had no major league sports teams when I moved here 11 years ago.

But, here we are.

I was at T-Mobile Arena when the Washington Capitals were crowned Stanley Cup champions in 2018. I thought I was witnessing history then. It was nothing compared to what I experienced Tuesday night.

When you watch the birth of a team and follow them for six years, it’s hard not to feel a connection to them. You watch them grow as athletes. Become husbands and fathers. Form a bond with one another, the city and the fans.

So watching them win the ultimate title in hockey in front of their families, friends and fans was incredible.

As I walked around the ice following Game 5, I took in all the sights and sounds of the Golden Knights celebrating with their families.

Lots of babies in the Cup. Reilly Smith’s. William Karlsson’s. Chandler Stephenson’s.

Jonathan Marchessault soaking up every moment of glory with his kids.

Alex Pietrangelo getting misty-eyed watching his 4-year-old daughter run around after suffering a major health scare only six months before.

Babies stealing the attention during live TV interviews.

Tearful hugs. Big smiles.

Photo after photo after photo.

Lots of love.

It reminds you that at the end of the day, athletes are just like us. And family always comes first.