Remember that this is an expansion team within an expansion team. The media, social media and marketing folks came from different places and must come together to execute their game plan, not unlike the players, coaches and executives. This was a great bonding experience for them, as well as an outreach mission for the Golden Knights.
To this point, they had spent about 38 hours traveling 2,272 miles together on the bus since leaving Las Vegas on Monday, taking naps, watching movies, eating snacks, playing games. They'd been up before dawn at times. They'd eaten on the run at times. They'd checked in and out of a different place each day. They had worked hard, and they had also had fun seeing new places and getting to know each other better.
And they couldn't have been nicer and more welcoming to a writer from NHL.com who wasn't on the team, just along for the ride. I can't thank them enough.
Now it was time to go home to Las Vegas, for more hard work before the veterans report to training camp Sept. 14 and the regular season opens Oct. 6.
The bus pulled out for another seven-something-hour ride over another 430-something miles, and I stayed behind to write and fly home Sunday morning.
The hope is that they will make the Vegas Golden Knights Road Trip an annual thing, a tradition, not a one-timer before the inaugural season. I think I should cover it each year, because, you know, I have experience now and NHL.com needs to be on this story. Right, boss?
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