Vegas Strong: Golden Knights’ mission to heal through hockey

By Dan Kamal, for CNN
Published 10:26 AM EDT, Mon October 1, 2018
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PHOTO: Tom Pennington/Getty Images North
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Editor’s Note: Dan Kamal is a CNN World Sport contributor and former play-by-play announcer of the now-defunct Atlanta Thrashers.

(CNN) —  

It was just nine days after the mass shooting in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017.

Deryk Engelland, captain of the Vegas Golden Knights, was standing in a spotlight at T-Mobile Arena, addressing the sellout crowd. It was his team’s first regular-season home game in its new city. The atmosphere was different than anyone could have or would have ever imagined.

“It’s first game in the franchise in Vegas, right? So it’s supposed to be a happy time, but no,” Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury recalled.

“It was on everybody’s mind. It was tough.”

Debris is scattered on the ground Monday, October 2, at the site of a country music festival held this past weekend in Las Vegas. Dozens of people were killed and hundreds were injured Sunday when a gunman opened fire on the crowd. Police said the gunman fired from the Mandalay Bay hotel, several hundred feet southwest of the concert grounds. It is the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
Debris is scattered on the ground Monday, October 2, at the site of a country music festival held this past weekend in Las Vegas. Dozens of people were killed and hundreds were injured Sunday when a gunman opened fire on the crowd. Police said the gunman fired from the Mandalay Bay hotel, several hundred feet southwest of the concert grounds. It is the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
PHOTO: John Locher/AP
Broken windows of the Mandalay Bay are seen early in Las Vegas on Monday. Police said the gunman fired on the crowd from the 32nd floor of the hotel.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
Broken windows of the Mandalay Bay are seen early in Las Vegas on Monday. Police said the gunman fired on the crowd from the 32nd floor of the hotel.
PHOTO: John Locher/AP
People cross a street near the Las Vegas Strip just after sunrise on Monday. Thousands were attending the music festival, Route 91 Harvest, when the shooting started.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
People cross a street near the Las Vegas Strip just after sunrise on Monday. Thousands were attending the music festival, Route 91 Harvest, when the shooting started.
PHOTO: Ronda Churchill/AP
People embrace outside the Thomas & Mack Center after the shooting.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
People embrace outside the Thomas & Mack Center after the shooting.
PHOTO: Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Police arrive at the Sands Corporation plane hangar where some people ran to safety after the shooting.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
Police arrive at the Sands Corporation plane hangar where some people ran to safety after the shooting.
PHOTO: Powers Imagery/Invision/AP
A woman cries while hiding inside the Sands Corporation plane hangar.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
A woman cries while hiding inside the Sands Corporation plane hangar.
PHOTO: Powers Imagery/Invision/AP
Concertgoers dive over a fence to take cover from gunfire on Sunday night.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
Concertgoers dive over a fence to take cover from gunfire on Sunday night.
PHOTO: David Becker/Getty Images
Police take position outside the Mandalay Bay.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
Police take position outside the Mandalay Bay.
PHOTO: David Becker/Getty Images
A man lays on top of a woman as others flee the festival grounds. The woman reportedly got up from the scene.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
A man lays on top of a woman as others flee the festival grounds. The woman reportedly got up from the scene.
PHOTO: David Becker/Getty Images
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People are seen on the ground after the gunman opened fire.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
People are seen on the ground after the gunman opened fire.
PHOTO: David Becker/Getty Images
People run from the festival grounds.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
People run from the festival grounds.
PHOTO: David Becker/Getty Images
A woman is moved outside the Las Vegas Tropicana resort. Multiple victims were being transported to hospitals in the aftermath of the shooting.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
A woman is moved outside the Las Vegas Tropicana resort. Multiple victims were being transported to hospitals in the aftermath of the shooting.
PHOTO: Chase Stevens/AP
People are searched by police at the Tropicana.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
People are searched by police at the Tropicana.
PHOTO: Chase Stevens/AP
An ambulance leaves the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
An ambulance leaves the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue.
PHOTO: Ethan Miller/Getty Images
A man in a wheelchair is evacuated from the festival after gunfire was heard.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
A man in a wheelchair is evacuated from the festival after gunfire was heard.
PHOTO: David Becker/Getty Images
Victims of the shooting are tended to in the street.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
Victims of the shooting are tended to in the street.
PHOTO: Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Concertgoers help an injured person at the scene.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
Concertgoers help an injured person at the scene.
PHOTO: David Becker/Getty Images
People gather around a victim outside the festival grounds.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
People gather around a victim outside the festival grounds.
PHOTO: David Becker/Getty Images
A couple huddles after shots rang out at the festival.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
A couple huddles after shots rang out at the festival.
PHOTO: David Becker/Getty Images
An injured woman is helped at the Tropicana.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
An injured woman is helped at the Tropicana.
PHOTO: Chase Stevens/AP
Police and emergency responders gather at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
Police and emergency responders gather at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue.
PHOTO: Ethan Miller/Getty Images
A police officer takes position behind a truck.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
A police officer takes position behind a truck.
PHOTO: John Locher/AP
A crowd takes cover at the festival grounds.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
A crowd takes cover at the festival grounds.
PHOTO: David Becker/Getty Images
Police officers advise people to take cover in the wake of the shooting.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
Police officers advise people to take cover in the wake of the shooting.
PHOTO: John Locher/AP
People tend to a victim at the festival grounds.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
People tend to a victim at the festival grounds.
PHOTO: David Becker/Getty Images
Police stand at the scene of the shooting.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
Police stand at the scene of the shooting.
PHOTO: John Locher/AP
A woman sits on a curb at the scene of the shooting.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
A woman sits on a curb at the scene of the shooting.
PHOTO: John Locher/AP
Police are deployed to the scene.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
Police are deployed to the scene.
PHOTO: John Locher/AP
A man makes a phone call as people run from the festival grounds.
Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival
A man makes a phone call as people run from the festival grounds.
PHOTO: David Becker/Getty Images

Engelland finished his remarks that night with this pledge: “To the families and friends of the victims, know that we’ll do everything we can to help you and our city heal.

“We are Vegas Strong.”

READ: Las Vegas hockey team retires No. 58 to honor concert victims

In Macbeth, Shakespeare suggested we give words to our sorrow. In Engelland’s address, he tried eloquently to give words, apply some hope and healing to the unfathomable sorrow being felt in the city, especially by those most affected by the senseless tragedy.

The Vegas Golden Knights and the Dallas Stars stand at attention during the national anthem.
The Vegas Golden Knights and the Dallas Stars stand at attention during the national anthem.
PHOTO: Tom Pennington/Getty Images North

His speech – like the moment of silence requested at T-Mobile Arena – was 58 seconds long, a second for all 58 souls lost in the massacre.

His promise, and by extension, his teammates’ has no limits imposed by time; it is ongoing. What happened in the wake of that unspeakable violence, was transforming – for the team and for Las Vegas.

From the depths of the despair that hung in the arena that opening night was a bond forged between this team and its new city that transcended sport and gave the NHL’s latest franchise a mission that went far beyond wins and losses. The Vegas Golden Knights were playing now for their city. They played to heal.

“With October 1st, we all had to mature a little bit faster,” Golden Knights forward Pierre Edouard Bellemare told CNN Sport.

“It’s not about us, it’s not about the team, not about salaries, not about stats. It was all about our strength to defend our town, because it is our town now.”

Vegas centerman William Karlsson, who went from a previous high of nine goals to 43 – the third best in the NHL last season – added: “First of all it was pretty unbelievable that something like that could happen especially when you’re there, too.

“It kind of made the whole team come together. I mean the whole city come together – and they had a rally point in us, to come together at games, and I think that bond made us stronger. We had that connection with the city and the fans.”

Names of the 58 victims of the October 1, 2017, mass shooting in Las Vegas are projected on the ice at T-Mobile Arena on March 31, 2018 in Las Vegas.
Names of the 58 victims of the October 1, 2017, mass shooting in Las Vegas are projected on the ice at T-Mobile Arena on March 31, 2018 in Las Vegas.
PHOTO: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Vegas won that first game at T-Mobile Arena and eight of the next nine at home. The march was on to the most successful season by a true expansion franchise in NHL history – it was a journey of Cinderella proportions that included most wins and road wins ever by a first-year franchise.

It also led straight to the Stanley Cup Final, all happening as the bond between team and city grew stronger.

Before Game Three of the final last June, CNN Sport asked George McPhee – the Golden Knights general manager – to look back on how the relationship between his team and the city of Las Vegas was shaped by their shared sense of profound loss.

READ: How NHL plans to grow in China ahead of 2022 Winter Olympics

Clearly moved by the memories, McPhee offered this: “The unfortunate events of October 1 changed things, and sometimes in the wake of tragedy, you know, something more beautiful happens.

“And a beautiful thing happened in Vegas, the way that community came together, the way this team came together – as a team and for the city – was a really remarkable thing.

“If you were close to it, it was really something to experience.”

The ceremonial first puck is dropped between Oliver Ekman-Larsson of the Arizona Coyotes and Jason Garrison of the Golden Knights before the Golden Knights
The ceremonial first puck is dropped between Oliver Ekman-Larsson of the Arizona Coyotes and Jason Garrison of the Golden Knights before the Golden Knights' inaugural regular-season home opener against the Coyotes at T-Mobile Arena on October 10, 2017.
PHOTO: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Engelland and his Golden Knights teammates lost their bid to become 2018 Stanley Cup champions, falling in five games to the Washington Capitals. But while they may have failed to win the right to lift the Cup, they achieved something that will live forever in the collective hearts of Las Vegas.

They lifted spirits in the city’s darkest times. They helped to bring some light, bring some healing. They are champions.