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Close to 20,000 fans were packed inside T-Mobile Arena when the Las Vegas Golden Knights secured their first Stanley Cup in franchise history with a victory over the Panthers earlier this year—and the team recently went out of its way to honor the dying wish of one fan who wasn’t able to see it happen.
Nobody really expected the Golden Knights to take the NHL by storm when the expansion team entered the league in 2017, but they quickly defied expectations by winning the Pacific Division and making it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals before the Capitals walked away with the title in five games.
The 2021-22 campaign marked the first time Las Vegas failed to punch its ticket to the playoffs, but the Golden Knights managed to bounce back last season to finish at the top of the Pacific yet again before doing what they couldn’t in 2018.
NHL teams traditionally give players, executives, and other employees the chance to have a day or two with the Stanley Cup in the offseason, and according to SinBin, franchise president Kerry Bubolz went out of his way to pay tribute to a fan who passed away in 2021.
Michael Bronowitz grew up rooting for the New York Rangers, but he found himself cheering for the Golden Knights after the team made its grand debut in the city he moved to in 2011. On June 10th, 2021, he celebrated his 51st birthday by attending the game where the team advanced to the Western Conference Finals with a victory over the Avalanche, but the following week, he died shortly after testing positive for COVID-19.
Prior to his passing, he told his wife “If anything should happen to me, and the Golden Knights win the Cup, you have to bring it to my grave.” Earlier this month, that wish was realized, as Bubolz visited the cemetery where he was laid to rest to place the Stanley Cup on his grave and put a picture of Bronowitz in the bowl of the trophy.
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