With the 2023-24 Silver Knights schedule on the calendar, let’s break down what to watch for during the upcoming HSK campaign.

• Wild Start: The Silver Knights will open the season on the road for the first time in franchise history, playing a pair of games in Des Moines against the Iowa Wild on October 13 and 14.
• Home Front: The Silver Knights open the doors to TDLC on October 20 for the first of two games against the San Jose Barracuda. The HSK are 2-1-0 all-time on Opening Day, falling in their home-opener last season against the Tucson Roadrunners. Henderson will play only four of the first 12 games on home ice.
• Change of Scenery: The Silver Knights played their entire schedule in 2022-23 against Pacific Division opponents, but that will change this season. The HSK will face the Central Division’s Iowa Wild and Milwaukee Admirals. The Silver Knights’ season-opening set in Iowa will be their first non-divisional road games since their last stop in Des Moines in March 2022, while the Wild will make their first ever visit to The Dollar Loan Center on February 2 and 3. The HSK are 2-2-0 all-time vs the Wild, and they will face the Admirals for the first time ever on January 12 and 13 at TDLC. The HSK return the favor with a trip to Brew City on March 23 and 24.
• Making Room: If the Silver Knights are adding eight non-divisional games, that space in the schedule must come from somewhere. The Silver Knights will play the Calgary Wranglers and San Diego Gulls just four times each, twice at home and twice on the road. They will play all other Pacific Division teams eight times.
• Well-Traveled: The Silver Knights’ longest road swings of the season will be a pair of six-game stretches, one in February and one in March. The HSK play six of eight games in February on the road, facing Ontario, Coachella, San Diego, Coachella again, and a pair in Colorado from February 9 to 24. The Silver Knights play pairs in Tucson, Abbotsford, and Milwaukee from March 12 to 24. With all that time on the road, what’s the bright side? The Silver Knights will play seven of their last nine games at home.
• Old Stomping Grounds: This summer, the HSK have signed forwards Adam Cracknell and Tyler Benson to AHL contracts. Though Cracknell spent last season with the Tucson Roadrunners, both he and Benson were members of the Bakersfield Condors from 2020-22, a team that won the Pacific Division playoff against Henderson in 2021. They will return to Bakersfield as Silver Knights on October 24.
• Back-to-Back Action: The Silver Knights schedule features 26 sets of back-to-back games, with 11 of those sets coming at home. There are two home-and-home splits – one with the Ontario Reign finishing at Toyota Arena on New Year’s Eve and one with the Bakersfield Condors finishing at Mechanics Bank Arena on April 20, the final day of the regular season. The Silver Knights will not have any home games this season following a road game the night prior, a scheduling wrinkle they faced five times last season. At no point this season are the Silver Knights scheduled to play three games in three days.
• Holiday Spirit: The Silver Knights have few games conflicting with major holidays in 2023-24. The HSK will be home on Nevada Day, as usual. They will be off on Halloween, play two days prior to Thanksgiving in Bakersfield, and play their final three games at home before the Christmas break. The HSK are in Ontario for New Year’s Eve but are off for New Year’s Day. They will not play on Valentine’s Day or on Easter, but they will hit the ice in Abbotsford for St. Patrick’s Day.
• Whole Day of Hockey: There will be four instances this season when the Silver Knights and Golden Knights play home games on the same day, when fans will have the opportunity to attend both. On Nevada Day (October 27), the HSK hit the ice against the Ontario Reign at 11:00 a.m. and the VGK face the Chicago Blackhawks at 3:00 p.m. The Silver Knights will have 3:00 p.m. start times on November 25 against the Tucson Roadrunners, January 13 against the Milwaukee Admirals, and March 9 against the Abbotsford Canucks. On those same dates, the Golden Knights will have 7:00 p.m. puck-drops against the Arizona Coyotes, Calgary Flames, and Detroit Red Wings.