Saskatchewan woman witnesses Golden Knights’ first Stanley Cup win

A Saskatchewan woman and her friend hit the jackpot in Las Vegas on Tuesday, witnessing the Vegas Golden Knights win their first-ever Stanley Cup.

The women have both been Vegas fans since the beginning. The NHL franchise started play in 2017.

She said making the trip to Vegas was an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.

“We booked flights to go to Game 2 and then realized Game 5 is a better idea, so we took a gamble and chance of there being a Game 5,” Blixt added. “We rebooked for a week later.”

Heading to T-Mobile Arena, Blixt said there were a lot of people and it was high energy.

“We were down in the area earlier in the day and it was dead. It was empty. Then, at kind of midday, (it was) picking up and then (there were) just people everywhere,” she added. “All the stuff, music, face-painting, food, a lot of beer — it was good.”

Since the Golden Knights beat the Florida Panthers 9-3, it was far from a close game.

Blixt said every time Vegas scored, there was a lot of excitement in the stadium.

“Loud, high-fives. I jumped up and spilled my beer one time and it just kept foaming over, so I missed some high-fives that time …,” she added. “A nailbiter would’ve been like maybe a little more exciting, but a lot of goals was fun.”

During the game, Stanley Cup fever was also felt outside the arena.

Blixt and her friend looked outside and saw a sea of people, saying the partying just kept going even after the game was over.

“We also had some friends who were outside. They weren’t in the game and they said it was just unreal the whole time,” she said. “There was a band playing, music out there. It looked like there were a lot of drinks. (There were) a lot of empties when we walked out.”

At the end of the game, the women realized they had only been in Vegas for 24 hours.

“We did a lot in a day, so then we kind of had to plan to get home, so (we were) a little sad,” she said.