(Las Vegas) The least we can say is that it will be a different final.
First, here we are in Las Vegas, a temple of glitz and fakery, where it is difficult to know what is true and what is not. For example, the Bruno Mars which is playing and performing not far from the arena seems to be the real thing. But the Prince and the Michael Jackson playing just a little further away are probably not the real ones. It can get confusing at the end.
Then there are the two teams involved, which do not exactly come from the proverbial traditional market, as we know it.
The Panthers arrive from Florida, the Golden Knights are the local club, the Vegas club, in a city where hockey is a spectacle, just like Cirque du Soleil or the Blue Man Group.
And since it’s all about magic, one of these two teams will certainly have a magical summer, since the big winner will kiss the Stanley Cup for the first time in his life.
Those players haven’t been kids for a long time, but Jonathan Marchessault’s eyes had to light up on that beautiful Friday at the arena, especially when the Golden Knights forward was talking about the Stanley Cup, which he has been used to seeing people pass from hand to hand on TV since he was a child.
PHOTO JOHN LOCHER, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jonathan Marchessault
This time, he could see her very close. “I get chills every time I see her,” he admitted.
And now these Golden Knights are one step closer to that dream, having tasted it for the first time in the 2018 Finals, a loss to the Washington Capitals.
Hockey, which seemed like a very passing fad around here, continues to keep the masses racing; this season, the Golden Knights averaged 18,024 spectators, the 12e average of the circuit in this chapter.
“I would say hockey in Vegas was definitely a home run,” defender Alec Martinez said.
Marchessault, who has played here for six years, agrees.
“It started strong, and the world really got on board right away. The fans who have been coming to see us for two days at the arena during training, it was this same world that also came to each of our training sessions during our first season (the Golden Knights also train in front of the public in suburb of Vegas).
“It’s fun to see that even after six years the fans are still supporting us. They are still there. That’s why Vegas is probably among the top four or five cities in the National Hockey League. »
Over the past few days, Golden Knights players have all received the same message from management: the importance of avoiding distractions, which can sometimes be overwhelming around here. For this same reason, one would have thought that a club in Vegas would be doomed to always lose, firstly because it would be impossible to have concentrated players at work in such an environment. But no. In fact, quite the opposite happened.
Also, it’s all well and good, the heat and the tinsel and the shows, but Jonathan Marchessault swears that no one in this locker room is satisfied.
“What’s the point of doing all this if you don’t win?” Every year, 31 teams wonder how to win the Cup, and only one club wins. We have come a long way, but that will mean nothing without the last victory…”
At least, this final here, in a not ordinary place, reminds us that hockey can live elsewhere. Even in the desert.