VGK University - Class of 2018

The second season of VGK University presented by City National bank kicked off Wednesday night at T-Mobile Arena. Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations Murray Craven and Director of Hockey Operations Misha Donskov gave eager Golden Knights fans some unique experience in what it’s like to be a Golden Knight.

The afternoon started with one hour of skating at T-Mobile Arena. Participants skated on the same ice as their favorite team ahead of Vegas’ game against the Vancouver Canucks. Craven and Donskov gave them some pointers and set up some drills for the mostly first-time skaters.

After getting a feel for the ice, the group huddled to learn about the drills they would be trying out.

Students worked on their form under the watchful eye of Craven and Donskov to show them the right way to skate. Learning these fundamental skills from hockey professionals was greatly beneficial to the class since most had limited experience skating.

After some fun introductory drills, the class got to have some stick and puck time to shoot around and practice their stick handling skills.

Once they finished up on the ice, the second portion began in the classroom.

Students received a technical pack breaking down each slide of the presentation and leaving room for notes.

Misha and Murray began their presentation by giving their own hockey background, then moved into information about the rink dimensions as well as how the ice is made.

Next, the group focused on going over some of the basic rules such as offsides, icing and penalties.

The last topic of the session covered what to watch for during games. They pointed out things that teams do to cause opposing players to make bad decisions such as getting in a good position to force them to take a penalty or forcing them offsides.

After class was over, participants saw what they learned in action as they attended the Golden Knights-Canucks game and watched with new perspective on the game of hockey.