LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — This weekend will be a blast from the past for the Henderson Silver Knights and some original local hockey fans. The team will be wearing Las Vegas Thunder jerseys to honor the former hometown team.
It's especially sentimental for Silver Knights' forward and Las Vegas native Gage Quinney. His father, Ken, played for the Thunder in the 90s. Gage said going to Thunder games led to some of his first memories of hockey and he said it feels great to wear his dad's team jersey years later.
"I think it's definitely really special to wear the same jersey that my dad wore when they were playing at the Thomas & Mack," Quinney said. "I think it's extra special and I think it just shows the growth of hockey in Vegas."
The Thunder had a great first season on 1993 but would later fold in 1999.
The love for hockey was still here in the valley and it would later boom with the arrival of the Las Vegas Wranglers and, of course, the Vegas Golden Knights.
Both Quinney and head coach Ryan Craig said you can see it from The Fortress all the way to the youth hockey rinks.
"You can see from the first year on, the Golden Knights stuff, the Silver Knights stuff, the people that just talk hockey that knew nothing about hockey before," Craig said. "The game has really grown. The place that you really see it is around the minor hockey rinks."
"Growing up, we barely had enough kids to make teams in youth hockey," Quinney said. "Now you look at it and there's too may kids almost to a point of where you have to send kids away or turn them away. It's crazy to think about."
