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The Golden Knights’ gold-and-grey-on-black helmets are everywhere.
They’re on T-shirts and hats worn by mall patrons Jeff Skinner Jersey , on jerseys of moviegoers, on stuffed animals, on mugs and on bumper stickers deep in suburbia. Bars far from the city’s
tourist-driven areas show the games on TV, and watch parties have become a
regular activity.
The arena rocks when the expansion team that has taken the league by storm appears on its home ice. A city that for years longed for a major sports
franchise has truly embraced the Knights.
”It’s so much different live than it is on TV. It’s a whole different experience,” said David Santangelo, a Las Vegas resident who is a season ticket
holder and longtime hockey fan. ”People fall in love with it. So many people I
talk to at work are saying that they didn’t know it was so exciting. People are
really starting to learn about it now.”
Santangelo, who was wearing a Knights jersey, was among hundreds who attended a party Monday in downtown Las Vegas to watch Game 3 of the Knights’
second-round playoff series against the San Jose Sharks. The Golden Knights have
a 3-2 series lead after a 5-3 victory over San Jose on Friday night.
For years, questions were raised over whether the tourist-driven city with a long history of hosting big events could support a big league team night after
night. Gambling and a relatively small market size steered major franchises
elsewhere. Before the Knights dropped the puck, there were naysayers even though
initial ticket demand was high.
Average game attendance at T-Mobile Arena is now 18,042. Tourists and comped high-rollers have surely caught games. So have tennis greats Andre Agassi and
Steffi Graf, rapper Lil Jon, poker pro Daniel Negreanu and slugger Bryce Harper
before baseball season started. But defying some of those early predictions,
it’s been regular residents and their children who have filled the stands game
after game.
The crowds bode well for the NFL’s Raiders, who are due to move to Sin City in 2020.
The Knights – who were 200-1 at many sports books to win the Stanley Cup before the season began – proudly declare themselves Vegas Born. Their success
on the ice has certainly influenced attendance, but it may also have to do with
the city’s desperate need for fellowship around the time the season opened.
The Knights’ home opener in October came only a few days after the city suffered the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The team retired
jersey No. 58 during its final home game of the regular season to honor the
victims. A banner with 58 stars was hoisted into the rafters. The victims’ names
were also projected on the ice.
”I think because all the players are from different places and Las Vegas is a melting pot of people from different places Womens Will Butcher Jersey , it’s just really brought community together to have our own team,” said fan Angel Ashby. ”This is a Vegas-born team. It
isn’t from somewhere else.”
Ashby had rooted for the Colorado Avalanche, but got rid of the jersey when the Knights arrived. She and her friends rotate hosting watch parties.
The energy has existed at the arena from the beginning, but has progressively gotten louder with the success that followed. For the playoffs, the team has
expanded the pregame festivities to include a huge knight’s helmet that is
lowered from the rafters in front of the Vegas bench. The Golden Knights enter
the ice through the front of the helmet.
Some players toss pucks to their young fans before the game and some children in attendance will get sticks from select players after every game. And the
popularity has spilled over from T-Mobile Arena to City National Arena, the
team’s practice facility. There, the Vegas Golden Knights Skating Academy has
grown from less than 100 kids to nearly 1,000 seven months after its
inception.
Todd Pollock, vice president of ticketing and suites, said he did not expect the level of support the team has experienced in its debut season and wondered
what took so long for Las Vegas to get a major franchise. The team had planned a
three-day campaign for season-ticket packages for next season, but the
organization canceled after the first day due to an overwhelming response.
”What we’re seeing collectively this year absolutely, positively, I don’t think I could have scripted it any better than the way it’s currently playing
out,” said Pollock, who worked in the same capacity with the Los Angeles Kings
and the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.
—

In a year when two-thirds of the NFL playoff field is new, the AFC still features fixtures Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger  Mikko Rantanen Jersey , who have seven Super Bowl rings between them, and Alex Smith, who is coming off his best season of his 13-year career.
The trio of graybeard QBs led their teams to division titles again this year, and for the second straight season they won’t have to worry about Von Miller
wrecking their Super Bowl hopes. The Broncos missed the playoff party again
along with the Texans, Raiders and Dolphins, who were here last year.
The Bills are back for the first time in 17 seasons , the Jaguars for the first time in a decade and the Titans return for the first time since 2008.
The AFC gets wild-card weekend started Saturday with the Titans visiting the Chiefs, who haven’t won a playoff game at Arrowhead Stadium in 14 years. On
Sunday, the Bills visit the Jaguars.
New England has its customary bye week – its seventh straight – and Pittsburgh earned its first bye since 2010.
Strength and weakness of each of the six AFC playoff teams:
1. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (13-3). Last Lombardi: Super Bowl 51, 34-28 OT over Atlanta on Feb. 5, 2017.
Hope: Tom Brady still plays like he’s 30, not 40. He’s a leading MVP candidate again with a league-leading 4,577 yards passing and 32 TDs. He got hit
a lot more than he did last season (32 sacks in `17 after just 15 in `16). But
it hasn’t stopped the Patriots from having the league’s second-ranked offense,
averaging 28.6 points. A healthy TE Rob Gronkowski , who missed last year’s
playoffs, has given the Patriots a huge lift with 69 catches for 1 Markus Granlund Jersey ,084 yards. WR Brandin Cooks added 65 receptions for 1,082 yards.
Nope: Brady heads into the playoffs without his favorite target, WR Julian Edelman (knee), who got hurt in the preseason. Gronk, Cooks and RB Dion Lewis
have picked up the slack. But there are still other injury concerns with WR
Chris Hogan, RB James White and RB Mike Gillislee all ailing. The defense also
is very banged up. LB Dont’a Hightower (shoulder) was lost for the season in
October, and the list of nagging injuries has grown throughout the season. Using
the bye week to heal up will be huge for New England’s prospects.
The Dope: ”I think we’ve got some work to do. We are not where we want to be and that’s what practice is for. The great thing about it is we’ve got one more
chance to be able to go out there and play our best.” – Cooks.
2. PITTSBURGH STEELERS (13-3). Last Lombardi: Super Bowl 43, 27-23 over Arizona on Feb. 1, 2009.
Hope: The “Killer Bs” are in full flight for the AFC North champions. Roethlisberger, WR Antonio Brown, RB Le’Veon Bell and K Chris Boswell are all
headed to the Pro Bowl – if the Steelers aren’t playing in the Super Bowl – and
rookie WR JuJu Smith-Schuster has given Pittsburgh a youthful jolt. The Steelers
averaged 29.9 points a game during the second half of the season and appear
plenty comfortable when things get tight. They went 9-2 in games decided by six
points or less.
Nope: One of those losses was a 27-24 setback to New England on Dec. 17, a game the Steelers led at home throughout until Brady and Gronkowski got going in
the fourth quarter. Roethlisberger threw an interception in the end zone on a
fake spike when kicking a field goal and going into overtime made plenty of
sense. That means a rematch with New England, if it happens, would be in
Foxborough. Pittsburgh has not proven it can cover Gronk effectively – he
averages over 100 yards receiving against the Steelers in his career.
The Dope: ”It’s time to lock in and take this as serious as we can because we know how hard it is to get here and the opponents we have to play. We have a lot
of belief in each other.” – LT Alejandro Villaneuva.
3. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS (10-6). No Super Bowl appearances.
Hope: Defense wins championships. The Jaguars have one of the best D’s in the league – they rank second in points allowed (16.8), interceptions (21), sacks
(55) and yards (286) – and they gave up 10 or fewer points in half of their
games. Defensive linemen Calais Campbell Joel Eriksson Ek Jersey , Malik Jackson and Yannick Ngakoue, cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye, and linebacker Telvin Smith are the cornerstones of
a unit that gives Jacksonville a chance in every game.
Nope: QB Blake Bortles has five interceptions the last two weeks, raising concerns about his ability to carry the offense in the clutch. Bottom line is he
needs more help around him. The NFL’s top rushing attack has stalled, slowed
because of injuries to rookie Leonard Fournette and the offensive line, and
Jacksonville’s young receivers have started dropping passes, messing up routes
and looking far from ready for the playoff stage. The Jaguars are coming off
nine consecutive losing seasons, so this is new to them.
The Dope: ”I know he’s going to do everything he can to get back on that horse and lead us the right way and lead from the front. And everybody’s going
to do their job around him and do a little bit more. It’s time to step it up,
and that’s not just him, that’s everybody.” – TE Marcedes Lewis on Bortles.
4. KANSAS CITY (10-6). Last Lombardi: Super Bowl 4, 23-7 over Minnesota on Jan. 11, 1970.
Hope: Smith had the best season of his 13-year career , helped along by the best supporting cast he’s ever had. WR Tyreek Hill is a game-changer not only on
offense but as a punt returner, RB Kareem Hunt led the league in rushing as a
rookie, and TE Travis Kelce has arguably supplanted Gronkowski as the best in
the game a Philadelphia Eagles Elite Jerseys