LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Vegas Golden Knights are ready to celebrate their Stanley Cup win with fans in the valley. That includes Saturday's championship parade.
For general manager Kelly McCrimmon and president of hockey operations George McPhee, it has taken some time for it to set in.
"In the case of George and I, we're always together. We're always talking. We both knew what was at stake," McCrimmon said. "I don't think until Mark Stone scored the eighth goal that George thought we might win the Stanley Cup. It's a little bit surreal. You wake up that next morning and it kind of takes you a minute to get your bearings and it's a good feeling."
"You've got to stay in the moment and you can't think ahead. You always worry about what could go wrong. This [was] my fourth time in the Stanley Cup Finals and hadn't won so I know how much things can change and hurt if you don't win," McPhee said. "It was hard for me to let go until we actually won. I was wound so tight. It's been personally better for me with each passing day. I've had NHL Network on all day and you see it over and over again. We actually won the Stanley Cup. It's a pretty amazing feeling."
Both McPhee and McCrimmon played a vital part in putting together the Golden Knights team from day one.
"The expansion process, it's interesting. We had 11 months. The team was awarded before the NHL Draft in 2016. I believe George McPhee was hired mid-July. I was brought on August 1. Part of the reward for George, for myself, for the Day 1 people is we had the ability to have our hands on everything we've done," McCrimmon said. "We put together a tremendous staff. They laid the groundwork for the expansion itself in year one and everything since. There's a lot of decisions you make as a manager. For me, it's never about one tremendous decision. It's about a series of good decisions. To me, that's leadership. You need to marshal your resources. You need people around you to arrive at those decisions and you need the conviction to believe in them and I believe we've done that consistently throughout."
HOW WE GOT HERE: Vegas Golden Knights look to make owner Bill Foley's prediction come true
McPhee looked back on the first season and said it was incredibly disappointing to lose the Stanley Cup Final because "the city needed it."
"We know what it meant that year because we became a community hub for a lot of emotion. It was dark, hurtful emotion for awhile. I remember trying to get that ceremony right the first night. It didn't matter to me if we won or lost that game. But then after the ceremony, I was walking up to the press box and I thought we had to win that thing," McPhee recalled. "I remember scoring the first goal and the way the crowd reacted, it almost blew the roof off the building and was probably the first time that whole week people could smile and celebrate something. It was probably an incredible cathartic experience for a lot of people like it was for us."
For owner Bill Foley, even though VGK lost the cup in year one, the fan support showed the team had done things the right way.
"When we got the team and we started developing our plan, a high priority for us was to be part of the community. We made that run the first year, which was really amazing and I remember after the fifth game, I felt so empty," Foley said. "So we had a Fan Fest downtown. It was incredible seeing 25,000 people going to Fan Fest for a team that lost and I knew we had done our job and we've been with the community ever since. It makes me proud of what we've accomplished here."
The team overcame a lot of hurdles this season including injuries but McPhee said he could see the team picking up steam coming out of the All-Star Break.
"It wasn't an easy year. When Mark Stone went down just before the All-Star break, I thought oh no. I don't want this to be a repeat of last year and that's what it felt like because the team really suffered when he went down," McPhee said. "We lost four or five in a row. If it wasn't for the break, it may have been ugly but the break gave us a chance to stabilize and reset. When we came back for the first game out of the break, we were in Nashville and Kelly said this game is really important. He said if we don't win this one, then we'd be in trouble. Then we won it."
For McCrimmon and McPhee, they're ready to close this chapter on VGK history and celebrate a night that will be one to remember.
"It's interesting when you stand on the ice, the things you notice. For me, what kept resonating was the pure joy you saw in people's faces," McCrimmon said. "These are the things that you dream about and it should be a great day for the organization, a great day for our city, and it'll be really special."
"It was humbling actually picking up the cup. In some ways, you don't feel like you're worthy," McPhee said. "You wake up every day and it gets a little bit better in the sense that we're in a different place. We won a cup. It just can't ever be taken away from you now. It's great to get a Stanley Cup ring but the experience with this group of players, that experience is amazing and rewarding — but the uplift you give to a city is what really matters."
And as for Foley, he had one thing to say with a big smile on his face.
"Cup in six."
