When the Vegas Golden Knights traveled to San Jose to play the Sharks on Friday, they probably didn’t think too much about where they’d be sleeping that night. Turns out that became a real priority when the hotel they were staying in suddenly closed right before the game.
The Fairmont Hotel in downtown San Jose filed for bankruptcy on Friday and immediately closed its doors, per The Mercury News. The owners of the 805-room hotel told the paper that they closed while they attempt to “find a management partner and extend the existing mortgage debt.” The affiliate that owns the Fairmont noted debts that ranged from $100 to $500 million, per a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
The Fairmont Hotel in San Jose just went out of business. Golden Knights evicted on the spot. Anyone know what the record for homeless teams is in NHL history?
— Ray Ratto (@RattoIndy) March 6, 2021
According to Justin Emerson of the Las Vegas Sun, the Knights found a new hotel after the game. Thankfully they had taken their bags with them as they’d found out about the closure following their breakfast.
Umm…the Golden Knight hotel yesterday declared bankruptcy. They had their pregame meal and then got evicted because the hotel just up and closed
— Justin Emerson (@J15Emerson) March 6, 2021
“That’s a first for probably everybody on our team,” defenseman Nick Holden told Emerson.
“It was a surreal experience,” coach Pete DeBoer told Emerson. “Hopefully this is the end of the COVID year, but it was almost the topping on the cake for what the last year has been for everybody in the world. Just another thing thrown at you, another thing to deal with.
“Not that I’m putting it in the same breath as dealing with COVID, but it was just one of those things we got thrown at us, we dealt with it and found a way to get off to a good start, so good resiliency by our group.”
Nick Holden says he thinks the quick relocation was toughest on Alex Tuch and Ryan Reaves, who had to pack up the video game system they brought.
This is weird
— Justin Emerson (@J15Emerson) March 6, 2021
The Knights are en route to Minnesota for their next game but the closure of the Fairmont may continue to plague the NHL in the short-term. The league had designated the Fairmont as the one hotel that every visiting NHL team must stay at while in town. Presumably, they’ll be updating their protocols by the time the St. Louis Blues get to town on Monday.
