The young hockey players who participated in the clinic were from the NHL/NHL Players Association Learn to Play program, the Junior Knights girls aged 10 and under and the Bauer Empowered Girls team.
“You can see it all around town, on the license plates, and you can tell the people here love the Las Vegas Golden Knights, and their accomplishments have spilled over into youth hockey,” said Sheri Hudspeth, Golden Knights' director of girls and women's youth hockey programming. “We had over 1,200 kids participate in our house league this year, and our Junior Knights travel program has won three USA Hockey national championships in seven years. It's just exploding here, and the growth we're seeing is incredible, thanks to our coaching staff.”
Celebrini is the projected first pick in the 2024 draft at the Sphere in Las Vegas. The first round will be on Friday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN, ESPN+, SN and TVAS) with rounds two through seven on Saturday (11:30 a.m. ET, ESPN+, NHLN, SN and SN1). The San Jose Sharks have the first pick, the Chicago Blackhawks have the second and the Anaheim Ducks have the third pick.
“I know what it's like growing up and looking up to these guys who want to be NHL players,” Celebrini said, “and I know how I would have wanted to be treated if I met them. So it makes me want to give back and it's really important to do that for kids.”
Former NHL players Deryk Engelland, Anson Carter, Georges Laraque, Al Montoya and Anthony Stewart also participated in the clinic.
“Our 'Learn To Play' program went from only having 10-20 kids attend a session to now having 40-50 attend and multiple sessions across Southern Nevada,” said Engelland, who played three seasons in Vegas (2017-20). “They're building more rinks and you can see a lot of families turning into hockey families with the arrival of the Golden Knights. It's great to see hockey growing here.”
Since the Golden Knights debuted in the NHL in the 2017-18 season, Nevada has seen an increase in hockey participation, more hockey programs, expansion into new communities and the construction of new facilities to meet high demand. With the addition of the Golden Knights, the total number of hockey players increased by 268%, with the most significant increase among players age 8 and under.
