When it comes to hockey in the desert, the Golden Knights’ performance in the Fortress is not the only show in town. FOX 5 reporter Vince Sapienza met with Vegas’s Jr. Golden Knights girls coach, Sheri Hudspeth, to showcase the tremendous growth of youth hockey in Nevada.

In studying the growth of youth hockey in Nevada, Sapienza found “prior to the Golden Knights inaugural season, there were just shy of 1,400 hockey players. Fast forward to the end of 2021, and Nevada has more than 3,700 enrolled, which equals a 171% growth. When you break down the numbers even further, in that same time, the U8 player category jumped 668% while the girls and women’s group grew 327%.”

Sapienza gathered perspective from Max Pacioretty, whose children are enrolled in the Golden Knight’s youth hockey program, and Gage Quinney, the NHL’s first Nevada-born hockey player. Quinney said "I just believed in being a hockey player and it happened. I have my parents to thank to keep me in that direction and here I am, still playing today and hockey is growing in Vegas.”

To conclude, Darren Eliot, VP of Hockey Programming and Facility Operations of VGK, also sat down with Sapienza to share his support and goals for the programs. He does not see the programs’ success slowing down anytime soon.