Knights celebrate NHL crown with night parade

LAS VEGAS

Vegas Golden Knights players showed off the Stanley Cup and celebrated their NHL title on June 17 with about 100,000 supporters in an evening parade along the famed Vegas Strip.

The expansion club captured the trophy after only six seasons with a 9-3 home triumph over Florida on June 13 to claim the best-of-seven championship series four games to one.

With temperatures at 35.5 Celsius, floats and flatbeds and open-topped buses made the trek past the famed casinos as supporters cheered from along the city streets, police making a crowd estimate of 100,000 people along Las Vegas Boulevard.

The Golden Knights Twitter page was predicting the "Party of the Century" with the theme of the parade being the team's motto: "Vegas UKnighted."

Players were among those tossing Knights championship T-shirts, towels and flags into the cheering crowd as the team's dance team and drum line, used before games to excite fans, led the procession along the street.

Knights center Nicolas Roy screamed as he hoisted the Cup over his head while supporters along the streets roared with delight.

"Incredible," Roy said after passing the trophy off to teammate Ivan Barbashev. "That's the best feeling in the world. That will never get old. I can do that as long as I live."

Players poured drinks into the bowl of the trophy and tipped it over above the crowd, allowing Knights fans to partake in a players' tradition of drinking from the Cup.