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<\/p>\nHENDERSON (KTNV) \u2014 Police officers and firefighters took the ice Saturday afternoon at Lee\u2019s Family Forum, turning a heated hockey rivalry into a show of unity and support for first responder mental health.<\/p>\n
The annual Guns and Hoses charity game brought together agencies from across the valley, with proceeds benefiting local organizations focused on first responder mental health.<\/p>\n
WATCH | Guns N Hoses game supports mental health, enhances first responder bonds<\/p>\n
‘Guns N Hoses’ hockey game raises mental health funds, strengthens first responder brotherhood<\/p>\n
\u201cThis game brings both departments together, meaning police and fire,\u201d said Matt Wilson, a Las Vegas Fire & Rescue medic and firefighter and founder of Sin City Fire Department Sports. \u201cWe\u2019re all one brotherhood. We\u2019re all out there serving the public, doing our thing, working together.\u201d<\/p>\n
That brotherhood remains intact \u2014 even when competition intensifies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we get on the ice, we\u2019re able to kind of let loose and it becomes like a friendly competition that sometimes turns not so friendly,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n
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KTNV<\/p>\n
For many first responders, hockey in Las Vegas carries deeper meaning. The Vegas Golden Knights began their inaugural season in 2017, days after the 1 October mass shooting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think hockey, a lot of guys in fire and police play on the rec side, but once the team came here with 1 October, I think that definitely made a bond that\u2019s even tighter than previously,\u201d said Deryk Engelland, the former Golden Knights defenseman who participated in the game.<\/p>\n
Engelland said supporting first responders is personal.<\/p>\n
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KTNV<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they reached out and asked me if I could come play, absolutely,\u201d he said. \u201cAnything that they do, I support them in all ways because what they do on an everyday thing, every day, keeping our community safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert Anderson, a LVMPD police officer, who also played in the game, described how hockey\u2019s growth in Las Vegas strengthened that relationship.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen October 1 happened \u2026 what that did is changed the city for the better,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cWe had our own team that was our own and they were our boys.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that the Golden Knights\u2019 early success gave the city something to rally around. \u201cHaving that relationship inside of Vegas in the hockey community, it is a fight to the very end and it\u2019s an awesome fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the rivalry between police and fire can be \u201ca little bit more on edge sometimes,\u201d Anderson said it ends at the final buzzer.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter every fight, we\u2019re going to shake hands, we\u2019re gonna hug each other, we\u2019re gonna go have a beer and a burger after the game,\u201d he said. \u201cThe majority of our families are sitting together, so that\u2019s how close we all are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mental health remains the central focus of the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the one thing that\u2019s invisible,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cThere\u2019s a stigma behind getting help for mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n
He emphasized the importance of seeking support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe strongest thing you could ever do is ask for help, and there\u2019s nothing wrong with that,\u201d he said. \u201cAs soon as we come off that ice, we\u2019re all smiles.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the ice, police and fire battle for bragging rights. Off the ice, the message is clear: no first responder stands alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HENDERSON (KTNV) \u2014 Police officers and firefighters took the ice Saturday afternoon at Lee\u2019s Family Forum, turning a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5129],"tags":[3504,3505,3506,149,5317,5,3507,3508,3509,3510,3511,285,4,3512,74,39,5316],"class_list":["post-478385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vegas-golden-knights","tag-13-action-news","tag-channel-13","tag-go-knights-go","tag-golden-knights","tag-goldenknights","tag-hockey","tag-hockey-in-las-vegas","tag-hockey-in-vegas","tag-ktnv-tv-channel-13","tag-las-vegas-hockey","tag-las-vegas-sports","tag-national-hockey-league","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-in-las-vegas","tag-vegas","tag-vegas-golden-knights","tag-vegasgoldenknights"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116152437495381437","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}