Florida Return Special For Golden Knights' Video Coach

Tommy Cruz is a south Florida hockey story come to life. The Vegas Golden Knights video coach was born and raised in south Florida and got his start in the NHL with the Panthers. The 23-year-old joined the Golden Knights this past off-season shortly after Gerard Gallant was named head coach.
Considered one of the best at his craft, Cruz is tasked with curating the video the Golden Knights coaching staff uses to prepare the players for upcoming opponents as well as to illustrate positives and negatives within a game. Cruz also has his finger on the review button, looking for instances where Gallant may want to challenge.
We sat down for a few minutes with Cruz on the flight over from Tampa late Thursday night and got his thoughts on his first trip to the BB&T Center as a member of the opposition.

VGK: What's it like going back to Florida?

TC: It's exciting. I've been there twice in the last month anyways for the bye week and Christmas but it'll be cool going back to the building I grew up watching the team in.
VGK: Where did you grow up?
TC: I grew up in a city called Davie, which is the city next to Sunrise so it's about 10 minutes away from the BB&T Center.
VGK: How'd you end up getting into hockey?
TC: When I was in first grade, I had two friends that were twins and my older brother was in class with their older brother as well and they played hockey growing up. They convinced us to play roller hockey so we did that and a year later we were on the ice.
VGK: How much hockey did you play?

TC: I was a normal hockey player, fall season and spring season, and a little bit in the summer. I was a normal kid who loves hockey, played two or three times each week. Had fun.
VGK: How did you get involved in what you do now?
TC: So my goalie coach growing up was Rob Tallas, who is now the Panthers goalie coach. The year after my last year of juniors I was still looking for another team to play for, I was only 19. Kevin Dineen at the time wanted someone helping out the Panthers video guy on game nights. So I interviewed there and I got the job and I worked there for the 16-18 games that Kevin was there, before he got let go. Peter Horachek came in, he had me around every day the rest of the year. I didn't travel with the team but I was basically the video coach's assistant for the entire year. Then that summer, he was let go and Gerard came in and was looking for a video guy. Dale Tallon and Rob Tallas stuck their neck out for me and Turk gave me a chance for a year and now we're here.

VGK: So Gerard gets fired last year, you stay in Florida for the rest of the year and then he gets the job in Vegas. Then he phoned you?

TC: Yeah, so he knew I wanted to come. Growing up in Florida was fun. I enjoyed working for the team I grew up watching my whole life. I was kind of ready for a change too. So Gerard called Dale and asked for permission. Dale asked me if I wanted to go to Vegas and I decided that I did. Now I'm here.
VGK: What's a day for Tommy Cruz look like…
TC: So on most game days or any day in general I'm getting ready for our opponents. So I'll watch their last three games that they have played. So I'll start working on teams that we're about to play a week or two out. And on a game day we're finalizing the meetings and the video we're going to show the players. Setting up iPads for faceoffs and whatnot that the players want to see, and I kind of just take all of the video and manage it, let our coaches see it and we decide what we're going to show the players.
VGK: What do you do during the game?

TC: During the game I'm marking the game live, forechecks, breakouts, all the stuff that the coaches might want to see in between periods. I'm also watching for offsides and goalie interference if we get scored on, to make the decision if we're going to challenge or not.
VGK: So you're going to walk into that building in Florida. Who are you going to see and what's that going to be like?

TC: I don't know yet, I haven't done anything like that before. I think it'll be fun, it'll be cool. I worked there for three years. I also grew up there and I was going to that rink for ten years. I played in the rink as a kid, I went to Panthers games as a kid, I worked for the Panthers and now I'll be part of an opposing team in there. So it'll be interesting.
VGK: How do you think the crowd will respond to Gerard?

TC: I think he'll get a warm reception. They liked him there. We had a lot of success there. Hopefully there's something there for them and he gets a nice reception back.
VGK: What's Gerard like to work for?

TC: It's easy. He's an awesome guy to work for. Win or lose, you know you're going to the rink the next day and you're going to have a fun time at the rink and you're enjoying coming to the rink every day. There's no one else I'd rather work for.
VGK: You're young, you're good at your job. What's next for you?

TC: You know, I get that question all the time. I really like what I do. Obviously I hope somewhere down the road there's something more for me but I don't think about it because I really like what I do right now. And if I do this for the rest of my life, I think I'd be happy.
VGK: Vegas is having a lot of success, Florida is struggling. What's that like for you?

TC: You don't root for them to lose, but they're an opposing team in the NHL and we're going to try to win every night. There's guys there that I'm still close with, staff and players. You hope for the best for them but we're going to try to beat them.
VGK: How much family will you have at the game?

TC: I'll have my parents, my three brothers, both grandparents, friends, there will probably be 15-18 people there.
VGK: How cool is that?

TC: That'll be cool, they've come out to Vegas a few times too for New Year's and opening night so I've seen them a lot. They're probably more excited than I am.