STATELINE, Nev. – The cheering crowds announced the moment the Knight Monsters stepped onto the ice at the Tahoe Blue Events Center Thursday night, Oct. 24 for their inaugural game. The boos that followed met the Jacksonville Icemen and let the visiting team know that although the Knight Monsters are the ECHL’s newest team, they are not short of a raucous crowd. 

The team provided a blue Knight Monster shirt on each chair. These neatly adorned rows of blue transformed into a sea of various jerseys, costumes, and hats as over 4,000 attendees flooded in before the puck dropped at 7 p.m. 

Prior to the drop, Douglas County representatives, including Commissioner Wesley Rice read a proclamation that spoke of the lore of Tessie, the team’s mascot. Carol Chapman with Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority facilitated the ceremonial puck drop, setting the stage for the rest of the night.  

Once underway, cues from the full arena of spectators told the story of both the highs and lows of the game, including the four goals the Icemen got past Knight Monster goalie Jesper Vikman. 

Despite the loss 3-4 loss, the Knight Monsters scored the first goal around the 6th minute of the first period. The Iceman didn’t answer until the clock had ran down to the three minutes left in the first period to score their first goal. The Knight Monsters had 14 shots on goal while the Icemen had six by the end of the first period. 

Period one ended at a 1-1 tie. The crowd had already established their chant before the end of the first period, “Let’s go Tahoe.”

Between period one and two, South Lake Tahoe’s youth league, the Tahoe Grizzlies, took to the ice for a showdown. They were followed by an appearance from the Tahoe Wolverines from the Tahoe Hockey Academy.

Within the second period, Jacksonville scored two goals. The first came around the 7th minute and the other around half way through the period. The Knight Monsters kept the Icemen from scoring the remainder of period two, but did not score a goal of their own despite 12 shots on goal that period, twice as many as the Icemen.

The Knight Monsters being down by two points at the end of period two didn’t stop the home crowd from spinning their towels or participating in an activity during the following break. The activity consisted of throwing pucks into a Grocery Outlet shopping cart, pushed around the ice by mascot Tessie. 

The Knight Monsters stayed behind by two goals for a majority of the third period. Some of the crowd had started to leave at that point. The clock ran down to around six minutes left when the Knight Monsters scored their second goal, making the score 2-3. The game had heated up by that point with both an abandoned stick and helmet on the ice. 

With just another two and a half minutes left, the Knight Monsters scored to tie the game 3-3 during a power play, causing the audience to stand in excitement for the hard earned tie. The Knight Monsters kept the Icemen from scoring for the remainder of the period, leading to overtime.  

With seven minutes added to the clock for overtime. The Knight Monsters took two shots on goal and the Icemen three. It wasn’t until almost one minute remained when Icemen scored the winning goal in the sudden death overtime match for a final score of 4-3. 

Head Coach Alex Loh said after the game that he’s proud of the team for making the effort to come back in the third period. “We could have kind of just let it go, but our guys dug in and found a way to get those two goals late into the third.”

He says it was confidence from the first two periods that helped the team catch up in the third period. “To be honest, five on five, I thought we were the better team,” Loh said, “So, that just sort of bred confidence for them.” He said he knew if they stuck with the program, they would find the needed goals.

Defender Brennan Kapcheck said he’s proud of his team as well for coming back in the third period. “I think that really shows the character of this team and, you know, what we can do in the long run.”

The Knight Monsters face Jacksonville again Friday night, Oct. 25 at 7:30 p.m. Next week they take on the Idaho Steelheads for another series of home games starting Halloween.