Minor-league Thunder inspired Golden Knights’ music producer

As a boy, Jake Wagner was struck by how the Las Vegas Thunder minor-league hockey team energized fans not just on the ice, but through the speakers at the Thomas & Mack Center.

AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” blasted during player introductions, and “as a kid, I was just floored that they could play a song that would give me some feeling and give me an experience, whether we won or lost,” he said.

Nearly two decades after the Thunder folded, Wagner, 28, is in charge of what Vegas Golden Knights fans hear at T-Mobile Arena. As the team’s in-game music producer, the Las Vegas native selects the sound effects, plays keyboards and picks tunes — some of them stadium anthems, others more obscure, he said.

It’s all part of ensuring what fans hear is as exciting — and at times unpredictable — as what they see on the ice. It’s also not a new role for the 2007 Coronado High School grad, who has served in a similar capacity for the Las Vegas 51s for two years.

The National Hockey League has added 10 teams in Wagner’s lifetime, in markets such as Tampa Bay, Florida; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Columbus, Ohio. He wants to put a “Las Vegas” stamp on home games here by reflecting artists who play locally, as well as those popular in visiting teams’ home cities.

Wagner played baseball while growing up before suffering a knee injury; his brother Tyler was a star pitcher for Bishop Gorman High School and is in the Texas Rangers organization. Wagner’s mother, who played piano and viola, piqued his interest in piano when he was young.

“My mom’s side of the family is really musically inclined, and I kept that going even into junior high, with my first guitar,” he said. “I was teaching myself in my room for probably way too long.”

Wagner’s mother, Pam, agreed on the “way too long” part.

”I remember going to bed at night and hearing him playing, and I’d have to get up and tell him to stop,” she said.

Wagner was into Beatles music and other classic rock when he was younger, then got into jazz as a teenager, his mother said. He and his friends started a band when he was a teen, she added.

In his early 20s, Wagner realized that continuing with the band “wasn’t the most financially viable” career. Golden Knights crowds are the largest he has entertained.

“You can’t beat getting to watch professional sports in any regard, but hockey is so fast, so fun, so entertaining,” he said. “You can’t even fathom how they can see the puck movement as quickly as they do.”

That will be a challenge for Wagner, who’s accustomed to the more leisurely speed of baseball and the in-game reflection that affords.

Now, “I’m excited to test myself and work some of my reflexes, too,” he said. “Sometimes the puck’s in the net before you even turn around.”

Jonny Greco, the team’s vice president of events and entertainment, has faced his own rapid-fire challenge in assembling a staff with a tight deadline. Wagner impressed him when they met in late June.

“I went out and saw a game at the 51s, and I remember looking at my kids and they were dancing to the music he played,” Greco said, adding, “The more I’ve met him, the more I’ve realized he was the right guy.”

Gary Arlitz, director of game entertainment for the Las Vegas 51s, said Wagner’s background playing baseball helped him land the job with that team. His knowledge of music also was an asset; Arlitz said he’s not familiar with some of the newer or more obscure songs Wagner plays.

And that’s a good thing, he said, as the team aims to reach a younger crowd. As a result, “I kind of give him free rein on his music choices, just basically let him run free,” Arlitz said.

Wagner, who lives with his girlfriend and dog in the Paradise Palms area, said he hopes his work inspires a young fan the same way he was inspired during Thunder games. He’ll certainly offer young fans an education in classic rock; “Thunderstruck” was among the dusty crowd-pleasers that rang out before the team’s first home game Oct. 1.

Contact Brian Sandford at bsandford@viewnews.com or call 702-380-4531. Follow @nweditor on Twitter.