I was fortunate enough to attend the World of Concrete tradeshow in Las Vegas for four days the first week of February this year. Check it out here. It is the second largest tradeshow in Vegas, only slightly smaller than the yearly Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Spoiler alert: it did not disappoint in the slightest. Even better, my hockey team (Carolina Hurricanes) were scheduled to play the Vegas Golden Knights the Saturday evening after the show concluded. Of course I had to be there. Lucky for me, I had 4 good friends tag along. Let me give some backstory on how this all went down…
Ever since the Knights were announced as a franchise, I knew I had to be at the first game against the ‘Canes. I have a particular affinity for Vegas after an epic 21st birthday there with my family, for New Years no less (among several other incredible trips). Not that I’m a huge gambler or some degenerate boozer but there’s something about the energy of Vegas that I love. And it never lets up. The city is literally going 24/7–which is always a shock in the light of a hungover morning.
It was two years ago that I made the trek out to Vegas for their inaugural game against the ‘Canes. I somehow convinced my good work buddy Mike to join me on that trip. The game was incredible and it was awesome to see a good turnout from the Caniacs, something that would hold true on this years trip. Eventually making it all the way to the shootout, the Canes were victorious off a Phil Di Guiseppe goal and a save from my all time favorite player, Cam Ward.
This wasn’t just another win for the veteran netminder though. It was the 300th of his career. I was absolutely ecstatic to be there. I was in PNC (then called the RBC Center) for his first ever career win against the Pens back in 2005. Of course, that game also went to a shootout with Cam stopping Ziggy Palffy, Mario Lemieux, and a rookie Sidney Crosby. From then on, I knew he was going to be special–just like witnessing his 300th. Two nights I will never forget. Anywho…
When the Hurricanes released their schedule for the 2019-2020 season, my eyes immediately scanned for the Vegas tilt. What do you know, the game is scheduled for a Saturday night! The same Saturday I’m already planning on being in Vegas for the World of Concrete show. How lucky! Guess it was meant to be. As soon as I realized the dates, I shot off a few texts to see who might join me for this go-round. We ended up having five of us total, with two committing the week before the game! It was shaping up to be an excellent week in the desert.
The tradeshow itself was great. We had a good amount of traffic come through our booth, in addition to some great team dinners and an excellent hospitality event hosted at the Lily Lounge in the Bellagio. With two of my buddies arriving late Thursday afternoon, we decided to meet shortly after to catch the ‘Canes play the Coyotes. We landed on Blondie’s Sports Bar in the Miracle Mile Shops of Planet Hollywood. It was a solid meal–shared a pizza and a couple pitchers and were treated to a Carolina win. Good first night with the boys.
As the rookie of our work group, I was tasked with shutting down the booth/end of show for the team. Thankfully, that only meant three hours in the morning followed by a quick tear-down of our booth display. After meeting back up with the guys, we played a few hands of blackjack waiting for the other two to arrive. With everyone in around 6:30, we were finally ready to let the dogs out. Our Friday night dinner resy was for 8:30 at China Poblano in the Cosmo. After a couple of rounds of our soon to be favorite game (Fortune Cup–check it out), we were ready to grub.
And grub we did. The meal was absolutely incredible. It was a mix of Chinese and Mexican dishes that were all phenomenal. They had a crazy menu, complete with duck tongue tacos (which I did not try unfortunately). The best dish by far were the steamed buns, as they had both traditional and a fried style with awesome dipping sauces. But both the chicken and beef tacos I had as well were incredible. In addition to an awesome margarita. Hell of a start to the trip together.
From there we snuck in some more table games and I’m sure found our way back to Fortune Cup. We eventually made a super spur the moment decision to see the world-renowned DJ Alesso at XS down the street at Encore. The cover charge was hard to swallow, but once we were in we realized it was extremely worth it. Although the club was far from the most extravagant I’ve seen, it had a cool setup and we were able to move throughout no problem. Alesso was great and I ended up recognizing most of his hits. After a return trip to the Cosmo for late night secret pizza, night two was a wrap.
Saturday morning started pretty slowly, but we finally were able to drag ourselves to the brunch buffet around 11. Bellagio brunch never disappoints and is always the best way to get the day started, specifically after a long night with the crew. From there we decided to check out the pool situation. We were extremely fortunate to have highs in the mid-70’s for the weekend, so we grabbed three pool chairs and hungout in the sun for a few hours. Such an excellent recovery and lead in to the night’s upcoming evening events.
After meeting up for a quick bite at the newest Chick-Fil-A location on the strip, the group headed south to the New York New York for all the pregame festivities. We of course went straight to the sports book to put money on the ‘Canes. From there we were able to catch the drumline/cheerleader parade and walk-up. After a few quick hands, we decided to make our way to T-Mobile.
The initial sight of the arena is always breathtaking, and we were able to snag a few pics to remember. After what looked like a huge security line, we were quickly in the building and finding our seats. The location of our seats turned out to be perfect (the loge deck), as we were on the side for every Hurricanes goal and multiple other big plays. Just a short time later, the house lights dimmed and the Vegas sideshow pregame activities took place. I think it’s awesome how they do a custom intro for EVERY home game and tailor it to the team they are playing. It is super Vegas and I am all for it. Their entrance is always so extra and perfectly fitting for the team.
The game itself started poorly for the away team. After going down on multiple occasions, the boys exploded for 4 unanswered goals in the 3rd period. Just when I thought the victory was sealed, the Canes netminder had a bad blunder behind the net and turned the puck over to the Knights for an easy goal. After 60 minutes tied and an action packed overtime, the game was headed for the shootout–just as my last visit to Vegas. Thankfully for us, our veteran leader Justin Williams was able to bury the winner and put a fantastic capper to the game. One of the best I have ever witnessed, and I like to think I’ve seen some great games.
For the victory celebration, we headed over to Omnia at Caesar’s as we had tickets to see Steve Aoki. While heading to the entrance, we bumped into 4-5 Canes players (Aho, Mrazek, Edmunson, Foegele, maybe some others) and chatted briefly. Shortly after, my very first goaltending coach way back in the day–now equipment manager of the Canes Jorge Alves walked past me. I instantly recognized him and started talking a bit after congratulating him on the game. Our luck, he said the team was headed into the club to see Aoki as well. Here we go…
The club was PACKED. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait to get in, but as soon as we were in it was very difficult to move around. Even just going to the bar for a beer was an excursion. The crowd did thin out as the night moved along, so perhaps we came at the busiest time. We found were the boys had two tables reserved and made our way down to the pit area pretty much right in front of them. Although the DJ was awesome and Omnia is always an incredible atmosphere, me and my buddy Harris were fangirling so hard over the NHL players in front of us. It was so awesome to see them in a setting like this, and it genuinely looked like they all enjoyed each other’s company–also cool to see. They were also super nice guys as we grabbed a few pics with some of them. After another late night slice on the walk back to the hotel, we called it a night. A night for the freakin books.
Our trip wrapped up early Sunday as three of us met for a meal at Holstein’s in the Cosmo. An order of chicken and waffles later, I was on my way to the airport. I was so fortunate to be able to experience this and even more so to be able to pair it with my professional life after a week at an industry-renowned tradeshow. It was a week I won’t soon forget.
– Walker
Texas-Ranger Travels 