Winning a Game 7 Stanley Cup Final would someday mark this organization in another fashion. But the date of such a goal would never be emblazoned on the franchise like Oct. 1.
Sixty people lost their lives as a result of the Oct. 1 shootings, hundreds were wounded, and all Las Vegans were scarred.
The hockey team did its little part to try and lift the spirits of the community. The players welded themselves to the people of their new city.
The Golden Knights had yet to play a regular season when the world awoke to news of a mass shooting and the horrific echo of bullets on Las Vegas Blvd. The city was broken and reeling.
Original VGKers Bill Foley, Kerry Bubolz, George McPhee, Deryk Engelland, Kim Frank, and Eric Tosi, among many others, stepped forward to create a mission for the organization on that bleak Monday morning after. The mission is unchanged.
Reach out. Support and celebrate our heroic first responders. Share in the grief of the families left behind.
It might seem small to the outside world but this hope to help and honor those affected by this tragedy is the largest block of DNA within this organization. It's been passed on from the staffers who shook off the daze they were in those first few days following the massacre and picked up a torch to help Las Vegas find its way out of the dark.
Original Misfits as well as players who were in other places that season but are now Golden Knights will take part in events this Saturday. The organization has planned a blood drive. Players will visit with police, firefighters, and Mandalay Bay staff.
It's an integral part of working for the Golden Knights. As important as goals and wins. It's authentic and expected. Oct. 1 matters to Vegas. And it matters to Vegas's hockey team.
