426 percent.

That’s how much youth hockey participation in Nevada has increased since the arrival of the Vegas Golden Knights. Darren Eliot, Vice President of Hockey Programming and Facility Operations, has directed much of that growth in the five years he has been with the organization.

That investment has already paid off for many of the sport’s young players. Four teams based in the Vegas Valley – the 16U VJGK boys, 14U VJGK girls, 14U VJGK boys, and Faith Lutheran High School team – brought home a championship banner over the past two seasons.

“It was very rewarding for the players, their parents, the coaches, just everybody involved,” Eliot said of the teams’ victories. “To have three championships in the same season was unbelievable, and it was a great story with Gordie Mark, a former NHL player, coaching them. Championships are how people measure [success].”

“I have a little different view of it, though. You enjoy them, you embrace them, you’re happy for everybody involved. But we’re trying to build hockey players and hockey fans for life. So equally important to me is the growth of our house league. We have 1,200 kids playing in the league. When we got here as a franchise, there were 92 players in that league. I said, ‘that’s not a league, that’s a division.’ So we set out to fix that.”

The active involvement of the Knights organization (not merely the presence) is central to that growth. Golden Knights and Silver Knights players attend local ball hockey and learn-to-play clinics in the Vegas area; some travel further north to attend similar events in Reno on the Golden Knights’ road trip. HSK players donned Jr. Golden Knights and Faith Lutheran jerseys on Nevada Day and ahead of their respective championships in 2023-24. Vegas-born forward Gage Quinney and defenseman Lukas Cormier recorded congratulatory messages for the 14U girls on their Nationals victory.

The support that these youth players feel from the players they most look up to has been tremendously valuable in both growing and sustaining their participation.

“The success and popularity of the Knights drives everything,” Eliot said. “Our job has been to facilitate. The dream if you’re a kid is the Vegas Golden Knights. The reality is that the closer you see somebody that’s closer to you succeeding, the more kids can relate to them. What Gage was able to do was incredible. I think it’s so important that Gage is still in the local market. He has this experience that not many, if any, do. To have him recognize the titles last year meant a lot.”

Eliot’s prioritization of girls’ hockey throughout his tenure with the Knights culminated in that 14U girls championship. His success at inspiring these young and developing players is often – and correctly – attributed to his five years of NHL experience, as well as his representation of Team Canada at the 1984 Olympics. But Eliot instead gives credit to those that he has shared leadership with.

“Girl’s hockey has always been a priority of mine,” he said. “When I was in Atlanta, I had Reagan Carey, who ended up being the head of USA Women’s Hockey for a few years. So I had really good female leadership. It was important to me to have female leadership there. When I took over the Little Caesars hockey program in Detroit, it was the same thing. I was able to hire Manon Rheaume, and she ran the girls program and coached, and they were very successful. So the same idea here, we brought in Sheri Hudspeth. We brought in Kara Santoro, who’s coaching our 12U girls.”

“And we’re looking ahead at our goals for growth here. The percentage has gone way up, but the numbers are still small when you compare it across the country. One of the things we wanted to do, and the NHL Industry Growth Fund has allowed us to do this, is increase female participation. And the next steps for us is can we have girls teams at each level, each age group competing as teams in the VGK Hockey League. Next session we’ll have a girls-only Learn to Play. This is a plan that’s been done before, and it starts with female leadership. With any player, if you can see it, you can be it. That’s the whole mantra.”

That mantra will continue to help create opportunities and successes for youth players in Nevada throughout the 2024-25 season. The NHL and AHL seasons are around the corner – but youth hockey season has already started, with some significant debuts planned for the calendar.

“We’re going to host Girls Tier 1 and Tier 2 Nationals in February, it’ll be our first time hosting that,” said Eliot. “We had the 16U and 18U boys last year. This will be the first time girls hockey will be hosted nationally in Nevada. It would be really special to have one of our teams qualify for that, too.”

“And every player gets a couple of tickets to a Silver Knights game throughout the season, and they get ice time at Lee’s Family Forum. That’s part of why we wanted to do it, to get them that ice time when it’s available. The kids and parents can see the arena and fall in love with playing hockey on such an impressive stage.”