{"id":539625,"date":"2026-04-04T02:54:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T02:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/539625\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T02:54:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T02:54:42","slug":"emotional-reunions-sideline-rivalry-between-flames-golden-knights-its-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/539625\/","title":{"rendered":"Emotional reunions sideline rivalry between Flames, Golden Knights: ‘It’s family’"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAS VEGAS \u2014 Shortly after the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> put the wraps on their first practice under John Tortorella, the rink at City National Arena turned into something far more meaningful than a workspace.<\/p>\n

It became a reunion hall. A reminder. A quiet, emotional tribute to the bonds this sport builds and never breaks.<\/p>\n

Instead of heading to his dressing room, Rasmus Andersson<\/a> headed to the opposite corner of the rink, toward a familiar handful of Calgary Flames<\/a> staffers and players standing along the glass. He left the ice, sat down on an equipment box in full gear, still sweating, still catching his breath, and couldn\u2019t wipe the smile off his face.<\/p>\n

Former teammates, equipment staff, trainers, friends who\u2019d watched him grow from an 18\u2011year\u2011old kid into a 29\u2011year\u2011old leader.<\/p>\n

They emerged from the Flames dressing room, spotted him, and broke into smiles that said everything. Andersson stood to\u00a0hug each of them, laughed with them, held onto them a little longer than usual.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s friends for life, it\u2019s family,\u201d he said afterward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up there. I spent 10 years growing up with them. You spend more time with them than your own family sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fifteen feet away, another reunion unfolded.<\/p>\n

Jack Eichel, Keegan Kolesar and a handful of Golden Knights players stepped off the ice when they spotted Zach Whitecloud<\/a> \u2014 their former teammate who was traded to Calgary in the Andersson deal \u2014 waiting for them with the same grin, the same warmth, the same open\u2011armed welcome.<\/p>\n

Two reunions. Two players who were clearly beloved.<\/p>\n

And for a few minutes, their Pacific Division rivalry paused. The standings didn\u2019t matter. The playoff race didn\u2019t matter. The new jerseys didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

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Whitecloud admitted the moment hit him harder than he expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of emotions, but I think the main emotion is just sadness,\u201d said Whitecloud, who won a Stanley Cup with Vegas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are guys I went to war with. A lot of ups, a lot of big downs, a lot of tough times, a lot of good times. It\u2019s sad seeing those guys because it reminds you of the times you had. But you\u2019re also grateful that you had them.\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t expect the outpouring of love. But he understood it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t expect anything, but guys who treat people how they want to be treated \u2014 those guys go a long way in this game,\u201d said Whitecloud.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t forget. When you\u2019re done playing, the No. 1 thing you want to be remembered for is not the hockey player, it\u2019s the person.\u201d<\/p>\n

He learned that from Alex Pietrangelo, from Mark Stone, from Nic Hague and Nic Holden, \u201cAll guys who lead by example.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Andersson, the reunion was overwhelming in its own way.<\/p>\n

He admitted he spent the first few minutes of practice distracted, sneaking glances at his old teammates watching along the glass.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw Depo (equipment manager Mark DePasquale) in the corner and\u00a0I kind of focused on them a little too much at the start of practice, so I missed a couple easy passes,\u201d he laughed, following his first practice under Tortorella.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as practice was over, I wanted to skate over and say hi to all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wednesday night, he took the entire Flames team and staff out for dinner. And he paid.<\/p>\n

Because that\u2019s what family does.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s game also included all the feels, as a video tribute to Whitecloud prompted a stirring standing ovation that touched his\u00a0soul, as he circled to acknowledge the crowd by tapping his heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt goes to show you how much both those players meant to their teams while they were with them,\u201d said Ryan Huska.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a lot of good friends on both sides, and they spent a lot of time with each other\u2019s organizations. It goes to the character that both the players have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noah Hanifin, who knows both players well, summed it up perfectly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bond we have with the guys over there is special,\u201d said Hanifin, now reunited with Andersson as his defensive partner.<\/p>\n

\u201cEquipment guys, trainers, players, that\u2019ll never go away, even when I\u2019m done with hockey.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhitey is the man. Unbelievable competitor, great human being, a leader. Soft\u2011spoken but a winner. Those relationships never go away.\u201d<\/p>\n

The love-in all served as a reminder that the game ends, but the relationships don\u2019t. That the jersey changes, but the person doesn\u2019t. That the wins fade, but the memories don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Andersson admitted he was nervous about his first game against a team and a franchise that did so much for\u00a0him and his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll go forever,\u201d said Andersson, who had a nifty assist in a 6-3 Vegas win that included a 25-minute delay to repair ice damaged when the Zamboni lifted up a logo from under the ice in the second intermission.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will always be that special bond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitecloud said it just as well:<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s going to see Zach the human being, how you treated the rink staff, the security guys, the gate guy,\u201d he said of legacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what lasts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitecloud\u2019s reputation in Vegas is so stellar, the marquee outside the rinkside Beerhaus read simply, \u201cWelcome back Whitecloud.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a random Wednesday in Vegas, two reunions broke out at once.<\/p>\n

And for everyone watching, it was impossible not to feel something.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 Shortly after the Vegas Golden Knights put the wraps on their first practice under John…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[895,26,5294,896,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-539625","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary-flames","8":"tag-calgary","9":"tag-calgary-flames","10":"tag-calgaryflames","11":"tag-flames","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116344185396278421","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539625","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=539625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}