NHL: Golden Knights championship parade could match New Year’s Eve

LAS VEGAS –

Tens of thousands of Vegas Golden Knights fans, perhaps more, are expected in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip on Saturday for a Stanley Cup victory parade and rally to mark the team’s first-ever NHL championship.

Las Vegas police on Friday prepared for more than 100,000 people to cram viewing areas along Las Vegas Boulevard for a celebration that planners compared to annual New Year’s Eve fireworks displays that have drawn an estimated 400,000 people in recent years. Unlike midnight in winter, evening temperatures are expected to be around the 90s.

The Strip will be closed to the motorcade, which will begin at 7 p.m. near Flamingo Road and continue for about a mile (1.6 km) to Tropicana Avenue for a fan gathering at Toshiba Plaza and the Park District in front of the T-Mobile Arena.

The team played its first game at the arena as an expansion franchise in October 2017, just days after a gunman unleashed the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, killing 58 people in one night at an outdoor country music concert.

Players who had dubbed themselves the Golden Misfits embraced survivors, first responders and volunteers and the team has become a staple of “Vegas Strong” events over the years focused on healing community trauma.

Team owner Bill Foley famously predicted that the first-year Golden Knights would make the playoffs in three years and win the Stanley Cup in six years. The franchise surprised many by making the playoffs the first year and advancing to the championship before losing to the Washington Capitals in five games.

This year, the Golden Knights cruised through the playoffs, never facing an elimination game, and defeated the Florida Panthers 9-3 in Game 5 on Tuesday. Team captain Mark Stone scored a three-goal “hat-trick”. Jonathan Marchessault was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Marchessault is one of the six original members of the Golden Knights expansion team. He and the others – Reilly Smith, William Karlsson, Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb and William Carrier – were among the first to hold the Stanley Cup in post-game celebrations.

Throughout the week, players have been spotted hanging out at night spots in some of the same glittering resorts the procession will be passing through. The casinos have well-known names: Caesars Palace, Flamingo, Bellagio, Horseshoe, Paris Las Vegas, Cosmopolitan, Planet Hollywood, New York-New York, Aria, MGM Grand.

The parade route, arena and plaza also hosted a championship victory celebration last September, after the Las Vegas Aces defeated the Connecticut Sun to win the WNBA championship. The women’s basketball team also plays at the T-Mobile Arena.

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Associated Press sportswriter Mark Anderson contributed to this report.