razor ray
Registered User
- May 8, 2011
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1. Las Vegas
Vegas Golden Knights winger Pacioretty sees it whenever he takes his children to play hockey. The boom for Vegas isn't just in the stands at home games -- where the Knights are averaging 18,290 fans per game, playing to a 105.3% capacity -- but at the local participatory level too. "It's just picked up huge," Pacioretty said. "I see a lot of good kids that are coming up when I go to the rink with my kids."
In the past five years, total participation is up 86.4% in Vegas. From 2016 to '19, youth hockey participation increased by 60%, and the 8-and-under participation grew by 125% from 2017 to '19. While the overall numbers remain small in comparison to other NHL markets -- there were 2,255 total players, coaches and officials in 2018-19 -- there's no denying the growth in one of the league's most non-traditional markets. The Golden Knights gave the city a state-of-the-art practice facility in Summerlin back in 2017; two more sheets are on the way at Lifeguard Arena in Henderson, Nevada, a Golden Knights-funded facility that will open this summer for its new AHL team.
"Vegas is one of these hotbeds that's going to happen," Pacioretty said. One can argue it already is happening.
USA hockey hotbed heat check: What's the center of the American hockey universe?
Vegas Golden Knights winger Pacioretty sees it whenever he takes his children to play hockey. The boom for Vegas isn't just in the stands at home games -- where the Knights are averaging 18,290 fans per game, playing to a 105.3% capacity -- but at the local participatory level too. "It's just picked up huge," Pacioretty said. "I see a lot of good kids that are coming up when I go to the rink with my kids."
In the past five years, total participation is up 86.4% in Vegas. From 2016 to '19, youth hockey participation increased by 60%, and the 8-and-under participation grew by 125% from 2017 to '19. While the overall numbers remain small in comparison to other NHL markets -- there were 2,255 total players, coaches and officials in 2018-19 -- there's no denying the growth in one of the league's most non-traditional markets. The Golden Knights gave the city a state-of-the-art practice facility in Summerlin back in 2017; two more sheets are on the way at Lifeguard Arena in Henderson, Nevada, a Golden Knights-funded facility that will open this summer for its new AHL team.
"Vegas is one of these hotbeds that's going to happen," Pacioretty said. One can argue it already is happening.
USA hockey hotbed heat check: What's the center of the American hockey universe?
