The halfway point of the schedule is in the rearview mirror. NHL All-Star weekend with its trick shots, fountains, Machine Gun Kelly, magicians and Dodgeball Trevors are also a thing of yesterday.

Sept. 21, 10 a.m. - Minor hockey seasons have begun. Junior and college teams are skating together. A large number of your Vegas Golden Knights have arrived in town and are well into captain's practices. VGK rookie camp came and went and main camp opened Wednesday morning.

In parts of Canada the leaves are beginning to turn. In Vegas, the daily high is threatening to stay in the double digits as September leans toward October. Hockey season is upon us.

Tuesday, June 15, 2 p.m. PT:
There was a gap between the Vegas Golden Knights and Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Stanley Cup Playoffs semifinal series. Vegas was the better team leading to its 4-1 victory. The question is whether the margin of difference between the clubs is a one-game thing or an absolute. To wit: Is Vegas simply better or were they just superior for 60 minutes?

Montreal's job is to close the gap just like Vegas did after a 7-1 pounding at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of the last round. This is why a series is a mystery which sometimes takes seven games to solve.

Friday, June 11, 9 a.m. PT
It's the morning after the night before which saw the Vegas Golden Knights slay one of the NHL's largest dragons in the form of the Colorado Avalanche in an historic Game 6 win at T-Mobile Arena.

This series was over after Game 1 and Colorado's 7-1 victory. I know because I was in Denver and I heard all the crowing and read all the glowing Avalanche reviews. Not to be. Colorado was better than Vegas in the opener, that's for sure. The rest of the series, save for stretches of Game 5 which ultimately fell to the Golden Knights in overtime, was a different story. A Vegas story. The remark was made early in the series that Colorado had more high-end talent but the Golden Knights were the better team. We'll stick with that in the aftermath.

Tuesday, June 1, 3 p.m. PT
The biggest question heading into Game 2 of the West Division Final series between the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche is can Vegas close the gap?

The Avs played a tremendous game in Game 1 and took a 7-1 victory. Full marks to Colorado. They earned the week off between games with a sweep of the St. Louis Blues and were able to focus on the second round. They were prepared, rested and hungry. They earned the opportunity and took advantage.

Saturday, May 29, 1 p.m. PT
It was a Friday night late in May and with more than 12,000 in the building, the Vegas Golden Knights were shaking hands with the vanquished Minnesota Wild to cap the first ever Game 7 victory on T-Mobile Arena ice. A moment in time in which the positive feelings were rushing through the veins of so many Las Vegans and the promise of more to come already buzzing in their minds.

Playoffs, and the winning and losing of a series, means so much because of how fun the games are for players and fans alike. No one wants it to end.

Sunday, April 25, 9 a.m. PT
This is the best regular season version of the Vegas Golden Knights and there's no question about it.

This is the latest in a season the Golden Knights have sat in first place overall in the NHL. In 2017-18, the team was last tops in the league through 61 games or through 74 percent of the season. Vegas has now played 47 games of its 56 games schedule which represents 84 percent of this season.

Wednesday, March 31, 11 a.m. PT
Golden Knights head coach Pete DeBoer told Dan D'Uva last week in a radio interview that Tomas Nosek is a fourth line player on a Stanley Cup championship caliber team.

DeBoer's comment was a tribute to Nosek, who has seven points in his last seven games, in the sense that a championship team needs high quality throughout its lineup.

March 18, 9 a.m.
Last night's 5-4 win over the Sharks was a strange game on many fronts and leaves a number of questions to be answered.

First, let's deal with the Sharks. Are they poised to make a push into the playoff picture in the West? Sitting eight points out of a playoff spot with four teams to climb and 29 games to get it done the task appears daunting. But the Sharks are an interesting group. Maybe it's just how hard they play against Vegas? They do have lots of high end talent and Bob Boughner and his staff have them pointing in the right direction. Might just be too late and the two losses in Vegas this week stung.

March 14, 8 a.m.
Friday night's 5-4 OT win over the Blues was the most entertaining game of the season from this perspective.

Lead changes, push back on both sides, a little controversy, drama and finally a clincher in the extra frame.