A contingent of nearly three dozen Vegas Golden Knights supporters received a pleasant surprise on Monday when they arrived at Foley Johnson Winery in Napa Valley for a private wine tasting: an opportunity to meet team owner Bill Foley himself.
Hours before the Knights took the ice for Game 3 of the Western Conference second round vs. the San Jose Sharks, the team chartered a bus for fans to the 50-acre vineyard estate in Rutherford, Calif., a 95-mile commute from Downtown San Jose. Earlier this month, a number of Knights' supporters had the opportunity to tour some of Foley's southern properties in Santa Barbara during the team's opening-round series against the Kings. Monday's excursion, however, marked the first time that the Knights set up a bus trip to a Foley winery for interested fans.
"Bill wanted to make a surprise visit and say hi to all our fans that made the trek," said Brian Killingsworth, senior vice president and chief marketing officer with the Vegas Golden Knights. "These are very exclusive opportunities, but Bill definitely wanted to make a priority to meet these fans. It is a big priority of his."
For a price of $30 per person, the fans received a Golden Knights' GoVino shatterproof wine glass, a $30 credit toward the purchase of a 12-bottle case of wine and food samplings from Larry Forgione, the head chef at the estate. On Tuesday, an off day in the best-of-seven series, a group of 20 additional fans are scheduled to tour the vineyard.
The expedition serves as another example in how the franchise has explored creative options to educate local hockey fans in Las Vegas on Foley's extensive vineyard portfolio and deep passion for the industry. Founded by the vinter in 1996, Foley Family Wines, Inc. (formerly known as Foley Wine Group) operates close to 20 wineries throughout the Pacific Coast, including eight in the Napa and Sonoma regions. On April 6, the company announced the acquisition of the Acrobat brand from King Estate Winery in Eugene, Ore. one of the largest vineyards statewide. Sales of the brand are expected to reach 150,000 cases in 2018, according to The Drinks Business, an industry trade publication.
Just before Christmas, Foley Family Wines launched two Vegas Golden Knights private label wines, the 2015 Vegas Golden Knights Chalone Chardonnay and 2015 Vegas Golden Knights Foley Johnson Meritage, as a way to commemorate the team's inaugural season. Priced at $50 per bottle, the brands received strong demand across Nevada and eventually sold out, according to the team. The brands also proved to be a hit for the Knights during the holiday season, as the team sent out bottles of Chardonnay and red Meritage as gifts for sponsors, said Jim Frevola, senior vice president and chief sales officer with the Golden Knights.
Photo: Ezra Shaw (Getty Images)
Series can hinge on the slimmest of margins, but rarely can you see those margins so starkly as in Monday’s Game 3. It is no overstatement to say that the Golden Knights are up 2-1 in their series with the Sharks because of an inch here, an inch there.
Marc-Andre Fleury, who is and has been the backbone of this team, made 39 saves, none better than his glove snag of Logan Couture’s shot three minutes and change into overtime.
I know these things are self-fulfilling, because any team that goes deep into the playoffs is necessarily going to have unbelievable saves like this, but this is the sort of save in the sort of moment that outright wins games and swings series.
“I was looking at the guy with puck. I just tried to follow the pass and get out there a bit and I had a little time to react on it,” Fleury said. “It was a good feeling.”
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(Right around here, some save truther is going to rush to the comments to yell about how Couture shot the puck directly at Fleury’s glove, and I don’t want to hear it.)
A few minutes later VGK ended things with an absolutely perfect snipe, in stride, from William Karlsson, whose utterly magical season continues
Bar down, beautifully:
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Of all his goals—43 in the regular season, five more in the playoffs, Karlsson said of this one, “it’s probably the nicest one.” The context probably helps.
Despite the obvious skill involved with these two plays, there’s a necessary element of flukiness—the game of inches. A couple more inches and Fleury doesn’t nab that shot, and San Jose is in command of the series. Or, another inch higher and Karlsson’s shot rings out, and who knows what happens after that. Luck, and skill. No team has ever won without both.
