The Vegas Golden Knights’ name and logo were revealed on Tuesday night to a mostly positive reaction. The name isn’t amazing by any standards, but it could have been much, much worse.
Owner Bill Foley talked about the names the organization considered. Some of the options that were given deep looks included Nighthawks, Desert Hawks, and Sidewinders.
“I liked Nighthawks, we had that name. I liked Desert Hawks. I kind of liked Sidewinders,” Foley told Nicholas J. Cotsonika of NHL.com. “But I wanted a name that was more team-oriented and being about the warrior class, which is what hockey players are.”
Vegas also considered other variations of the Knights name.
“Silver Knights was an option because this is the Silver State, but Nevada is the largest gold producer in the country,” Foley told Case Keefer of the Las Vegas Sun. “Gold is a precious metal, the No. 1 metal versus silver. I didn’t feel Desert Knights had character to it.”
Silver Knights and Desert Hawks? Those sounds like create-a-team auto-fill options on NHL 17. The Sidewinders name sounds bizarre, but considering it would honor the Crotalus cerastes AKA the venomous viper species known as the sidewinder rattlesnake, it’s sort of appropriate. Having a deadly, venomous snake which can be found in Nevada does have cultural roots. Although, again, not an extremely marketable name.
Golden Knights is better than most of these suggestions. Let’s be thankful Desert Hawks wasn’t chosen.
[theScore]
