The Golden Knights captured their first Stanley Cup Tuesday night with a 9-3 take down of the Florida Panthers and Saskatchewan is feeling the wake of the win.
“It was surreal in a sense. You never expect your son to play in the NHL let alone win a Stanley Cup,” said Kent Pachal, father of Golden Knights player Brayden Pachal.
Brayden, from Estevan, Saskatchewan, played ten games in the regular season and one playoff game with the Knights.
His father said he always had a love for the game of hockey.
“There’s not one kid in Saskatchewan who had more of a love for hockey than Brayden. For him to do what he did is well deserved because he put a lot into it from the time he was five or six years old,” Pachal said. “He is still young. He has a lot of potential and he got a lot of love this year from the organization and especially from the coaches.”
Rhonda said she received a text from her son during the second intermission of Tuesday’s game saying he was putting on his uniform in anticipation of the win.
“As the mother, there is some tears running down my eyes because I know the inevitable is going to happen. We knew it was going to happen because of the score,” Rhonda said.
Jaysen Hustej spoke to Global News on Wednesday from Las Vegas after hitting up a watch party outside the stadium.
“If you’re a hockey fan, you are going to love it,” Hustej said. “My team is the Edmonton Oilers, but last night I was the biggest Knights fan, and it was something.”
He and his wife boarded a plane in Saskatoon and once on the Vegas Strip, they followed floods of fans in Knights jerseys to the stadium before the game.
“We just couldn’t believe it, how many people were out and about, locals and tourists hopping on the bandwagon and making their way to the stadium, it was just crazy.”
Hustej said fighter jets flew by at the puck drop and people partied in the bowl to Steve Aoki.
“Once they won, the atmosphere was crazy,” Hustej said. “It was almost like you were in elementary school again. Just because the score was so high. Right when Mark Stone scored that hat trick, I think it was 8-3, you almost knew that Vegas was going to win the game after the second period and it was like you were in elementary school again waiting for that bell to ring at the end of the day and you were on summer holidays.
“If you are going to go to an NHL Stanley Cup Final, Vegas is the place to go. They obviously know how to do things right here. It was a trip that will definitely go down in the memory book.”
Saskatoon was lucky also enough to watch some locals in the game including Chandler Stephenson.
His brother-in-law Zak Stebner was able to celebrate with him down on the ice after the win.
“I was just happy to be a part of it with them and happy to congratulate Chandler and the whole team, it was a lot of fun to be surrounded by so much excitement.”
“This is the second time he has lifted the cup in the T-Mobile arena with two different teams, but it was special for him and the cherry on the top was having his son there and being a part of it.”
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