LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Vegas Junior Golden Knights 14uAA girls team has qualified for the USA Hockey National Championships, making them the first girls hockey team from Nevada to advance.
"It's a really big honor," player Jamie Madsen said. "We're all really excited to be able to go and represent Vegas. We've all grown up in Vegas hockey, since the beginning of the Knights. It's just a cool experience."
Most of the girls were only about seven years old when the Golden Knights arrived and they credit the team for getting them into hockey.
"I had just quit gymnastics and I needed to find a sport because I wanted to do one and the Golden Knights were starting up so I was like I wanna try that," player Hayden Rom said. "I skated around one time and I was a natural."
"I did dance when I was younger and I never really liked the very soft and lyrical type of thing," Madsen said. "I like the more aggressive. I love the game just from like starting to play."
Their coach, Gordie Mark, knows something about hockey in Vegas, playing for the Las Vegas Thunder in 1995. Once he retired, he admits he was he didn't stay involved with hockey.
But by getting into coaching, he says the girls have rekindled his love of the game.
"Honestly, I've been away from the game for 20 years," Mark said. "This is my first year back. Just having a great group of kids, great group of families, the people we get to work with at the rink, it's very enjoyable. I kind of forgot how much I miss this game."
Nationals might be weeks away but the team says the excitement level is sky high.
"I think when we first won and realized we had gotten in, we were like wait," Rom said. "It kind of like clicked and we were like oh my gosh. We are literally the first team here. It's very surreal but it's awesome. It's amazing."
The girls will travel to South Dakota for nationals In April.
If you would like to donate funds for the team's travel expenses, we have a link here: https://e.givesmart.com/events/BEd/
