VGK Celebrates Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

The Vegas Golden Knights are celebrating Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by highlighting local families in the Southern Nevada community that have taken up the sport of hockey. VGK Youth Hockey Manager Harrison Luce sat down with two different families to speak about the impact the Vegas Golden Knights have had on their families and how the organization has sparked an interest for these youths to jump right into playing hockey.
The Tadeo family has nine-year-old son Ace enrolled in the NHL Learn to Play Program. The Tadeo's took time to sit down with Harrison and discuss some of the opportunities that have arisen in Southern Nevada over the last few years.

"The more I watched the Golden Knights play, the more I wanted to get out there and play myself, so I asked my mom if I could play," said Ace.
Ace's mother, Carmen, said there was never a time she expected her son to play ice hockey, but now sees how special the sport is.
"No, it was something not even on my radar. I came up playing soccer and my husband being Filipino played basketball. So, I always thought he would end up playing one of those sports but when we got our team and we saw how they responded throughout the community after October 1st it just made you fall in love with hockey," said Carmen. "We started watching, and it was fun to watch and they were winning. There was a post on social media that really stuck out to me that said that hockey was the sport that I didn't know I loved, and the Golden Knights were a team that I didn't know I needed. It's very true for myself, my family and the community. I never thought hockey would be the sport I would be having my kid play."
The Golden Knights goal is to grow the sport globally and make it as diverse as possible. It's important to reach out to people of different backgrounds to see what they think are key factors that can continue to bring diversity to the sport.
"A lot of the factors are financially and how much the sport costs. It costs money to learn the basic skills like skating where unlike other sports you just need a ball, and you can go out on the field and learn for free. I know it's hard on a lot of Hispanic and Filipino communities because of all of the money you have to invest just to get the child to be playing the sport in itself is difficult," Carmen said. "It was surprising though that he was able to get free equipment when he joined the Learn to Play Program which helps so much because I didn't even know what to buy. I think options like more outdoor hockey rinks would be really beneficial to growing the sport for people who don't have access to the ice rink."
At the end of the day, what's most important is that the children enjoy themselves and we have to gauge their interest to find out their favorite part about playing hockey.
"Learning to play with other people because I'm homeschooled so I don't really have a lot of friends, I love that I can meet new people and make new friends," said Ace.
Luce's key goal as a Youth Hockey Manager is to make hockey inclusive for the community as a whole.
"I do see a lot of diversity in the city of Las Vegas watching this sport. As a Filipino family we get together and watch the games. I now see a lot of different races loving this sport because it was something new, it was something different, it was something we could be proud of and I never thought I would like hockey more than any other sport," said Carmen.
The Kim family has 10-year-old son, Eden, who is part of the NHL Learn to Play Program. Eden and his mother, Hwaryoung, provided insight on why they were drawn to hockey.
"I wanted to play hockey because I saw the Golden Knights playing, and I wanted to be famous just like them," said Eden. "I played other sports before like soccer, gymnastics, and karate but wanted to try something different."
Hwaryoung touched on how she never expected her son to become a hockey player.
"I knew that hockey had existed before, but never thought Eden would be interested in playing it," Hwaryoung said. "In our community it was seen as a little bit more dangerous than other sports, but after seeing it I learned it is really fun and more fast paced and Eden really enjoys it."
There are key factors that stand as barriers for bringing diversity to the sport, but the NHL and the Golden Knights have worked to bridge that gap in recent years.
"Financially is usually seen as the first barrier, but with the Learn to Play Program we were surprised at how cost efficient and fun the program could be at the beginner level." Said Hwaryoung. "Talking with my friends in the Korean community I talk a lot about how Eden enjoys playing hockey so much and how it is cost-friendly and safer than I anticipated. I knew that hockey existed when I lived in Korea, but it was seen as a very elite sport and not widely popular in the country."
The goal for the league and the Vegas Golden Knights is to make hockey a feasible sport to play. These goals are reached by creating opportunities for families of all backgrounds to get involved. Five years ago, there was not much opportunity for Asian and Pacific Islanders to play or watch hockey, but due to introduction programs to the game and the success of the Vegas Golden Knights, hockey has become a thriving sport in the Asian and Pacific Islander community.