The Silver Knights could win a hockey game in the dark. And they can prove it.

Back in January, Silver Knights captain Jake Bischoff and forward Mason Morelli hit the ice at Lee’s Family Forum equipped with military-grade night vision goggles, accompanied by Silver Knights partners from Tactical Night Vision Company. In a one-of-a kind exercise, the arena shut off the lights and closed the curtains, leaving Bischoff and Morelli to skate sprints, unload one-timers, and redirect wristers in the pitch dark, without worry or struggle.

Bischoff and Morelli became night vision novices with the help of the Silver Knights Partnerships department, who brought the idea to life and caught the attention of the American Hockey League in the process.

 

sunglasses at night has a whole new meaning 😎

Jake Bischoff and Mason Morelli take on hockey with night vision goggles! #HomeMeansHenderson | @tnvcinc pic.twitter.com/P21Red7Q5m

— Henderson Silver Knights (@HSKnights) April 10, 2024

 

Last month at the AHL’s League Meetings in South Carolina, the league announced that the Silver Knights had won the award for unique sponsorship package for their work with Tactical Night Vision Company.

The HSK partnerships group has become accustomed to hearing its name called at meetings. They were also recognized this year for the Western Conference’s greatest sales growth. In the team’s prior two seasons, they were the AHL’s Sponsorship Department of the Year.

“I think, when having conversations with people unfamiliar with what we do, there are a lot of terms like ‘client’ and ‘partnership’ where you think we’re simply just advertising, at the end of the day,” said Dillon Garofolo, the Silver Knights Director of Franchise Properties. “But here in Las Vegas and Henderson, our aspect of the business means a lot more than in other places. We’re a small town with a ‘Big City’ feel.”

Garofolo took the reins of the sponsorship team in mid-March, when prior director Omar Cruz joined Aukland FC, Foley Entertainment Group’s soccer team in New Zealand, to lead their sponsorship efforts. Garofolo, who was a member of the Golden Knights organization in their inaugural season, understood the Knights brand well and inherited an award-winning team – Chris Arangua, Jake Snyder, Jason Walter, and Antonio Rizzo.

“The diligence and work ethic they bring everyday speaks to the group’s success. They always strive to find the most meaningful and unique partnerships to create the best value for our corporate partners,” said Gabe Mirabelli, Foley Entertainment Group’s Chief Business Officer of Minor League Properties.  “Winning multiple AHL partnerships awards speaks for the team’s results, but it is the joy they get out of the process that truly separates them.”

While print advertisements and traditional marketing are part of the job, Garofolo’s team is always looking for the opportunity to do something just a little bit different to stand apart from the crowd. In the Las Vegas Valley, there is no shortage of entertainers jockeying for the spotlight. To appeal to the audience, for both the partner and the team, you need to think outside the box.

“Luckily, we live in a town with so many unique activations, things that come to life that you don’t see anywhere else. We certainly have to get creative and position ourselves in a way to stand out with all the other wonderful things that Vegas has to offer,” said Garofolo.

“When I started with the team in its inaugural year, being part of an organization that’s as young as ours, we’ve been awarded a lot of opportunity to be creative and step outside the traditional parameters that may be instilled in other organizations that might have decades of tenure behind them. The organization has given us the keys to take some leaps and build things out from scratch to ultimately meet the needs of our partners and the organization.”

Those leaps lead to things like players wearing high-tech equipment on the ice or team leaders cutting the ribbon for a bar and restaurant themed after a minor-league hockey team, like M Resort’s Knight Time Hockey Bar. And when an organization has other tools at its disposal, like award-winning video production and social media teams, the imagination can run wild.

“It takes a village to do this. The entire activation and sales team works as a cohesive unit. We couldn’t bring it to life without every department doing their part,” said Garofolo. “The appreciation we have for the rest of the organization to help us do what we do it significant.”

And all the while, the team is serving two audiences. There is the desire to help the partner promote their business, but the Silver Knights are a hockey team. One wants to introduce that business to the fans but entertain the fans at the same time.

“The client has been over the moon seeing their idea come to life. Tactical Night Vision Company wanted to do something like this for a long time, but they couldn’t find the right partner in their space because the content piece was what they wanted to do,” said Garofolo. “The demonstration of their product in a fun creative way for those who are a fan of the game, and having that come to life, not only tells a story on our platform but it tells their story.”

Garofolo and his team are always working on the next big idea for their partners, and awards like this summer’s prove that those partners can dream big.

“The creativity of the group always highlights how much they lead with thinking about our partner’s and their goals. They don’t just break out the cookie cutter and fit all our or corporate partners into a mold. They take the time to listen and understand what is really important to our partners and then let their creativity do the rest,” said Mirabelli.

“In minor league sports, we have the ability to be really creative and our entire team leans on one another to come up with the next big idea across departments. The entire team’s ability to think differently about all parts of our business is what continues to make us successful.”