Golden Knights fans trek to ‘Shark Tank’ for NHL playoff ride

SAN JOSE, Calif. — School was still in session Wednesday for 11-year-old Madeline Ellis when she hopped into the co-pilot seat of a single-engine airplane for the Golden Knights’ latest playoff ride. She and father Brad, a pilot, departed from Henderson Executive Airport around 1 p.m. Five hours later, standing outside an SAP Center entrance gate, they were ready.

Gold face paint. Gold hats. Gold pants. Gold shoes.

She wore a gold sequin jacket, gold-tinted aviator sunglasses and held an illustrated sign of right winger Ryan Reaves eating shark sushi.

“It’s fun bonding,” Ellis said. “I told her today when we were flying out, I wish my father did this stuff with me.”

Said Madeline: “It’s just really fun and exciting.”

The Knights returned to the playoffs Wednesday night, having proven last year’s sudden brilliance as an expansion franchise was no flash. A mere smattering of support was audible. Just as the Knights know a home-ice advantage awaits in Las Vegas during Games 3 and 4, the San Jose Sharks experienced a proper backing inside the so-called “Shark Tank.”

This arena drowns out even the most passionate visitors.

Sharks players entered the ice during a pregame introduction that might seem dramatic to anyone not accustomed to the Knights’ theatrics. Amid fog, players emerged from a tunnel through an oversized shark mouth. The arena’s special-effects lighting turned the white ice into ocean blue with several sharks swimming and circling the faceoff circle at center ice.

The Metallica song “Seek & Destroy” blared from the speakers.

Soon, it gave way to the national anthem and “Let’s go Sharks” chants.

Such a playoff atmosphere is what Knights fans expected when making this trip, be it from Las Vegas or elsewhere.

Tim Rauch, 44, and son Peyton, 21, became Knights fans around the time of the 2017 expansion draft. Tim is a Pittsburgh Penguins fan who gravitated to the Knights when goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was selected by Vegas. Peyton, new to the sport, wanted to be part of something new.

They live in Fate, Texas, but took a job replacing the flooring at a Target store in Napa, California.

Their commute from Sonoma to San Jose took a couple hours. Upon arrival, they felt welcomed.

Indeed, Sharks and Knights fans seemed to coexist well. One Sharks fan tugged at the back of one Knights fan’s jersey, teasing the man, “Your price tag is still on it,” in reference to the franchise’s youth. That playful banter was common surrounding the pregame arena.

“Here, it’s like, ‘You’re a Knights fan, but you’re still a hockey fan, so we’re going to let you in,’” Peyton said. “That’s what I think is cool. I haven’t even gotten into the rink yet, and I’m already being accepted into it. That’s really cool. San Jose is very welcoming.”

Ticket prices also helped.

Knights fans weren’t gouged, paying about $100 per ticket, a far friendlier price point than at T-Mobile Arena.

Carol Fairbrother and Nancy Myers are sisters and Knights season-ticket holders. Their only missed home game in two seasons, they say, was to attend their brother’s funeral in Texas. And even then, they tried to make it back.

On Tuesday, they left their home at Sun City in Summerlin, the one with Knights flags flying and Knights statues at the front door, and loaded into a silver Toyota Prius V with a Knights-themed license plate. They stayed overnight at a hotel in a small town outside of Bakersfield, California.

On Wednesday, they completed the trek, arriving at the arena donning a gold hair cap and white team jerseys.

They hope the Knights can defeat the Sharks in the postseason as they did in last year’s six-game series.

“We hope five (games), expect six and have a heart attack when it’s seven,” Myers said.

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Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GehlkenNFL on Twitter.