<\/p>\n
Among his favorite players? Rod Brind’Amour, who is now Carolina’s coach, and Eric Staal<\/a>, whose brother Jordan Staal<\/a>\u00a0is Hurricanes captain.<\/p>\n He eventually took his then-girlfriend, Taylor, to Hurricanes games on dates.<\/p>\n When the NHL awarded Las Vegas an expansion team June 22, 2016, he was intrigued. He became a Hurricanes fan by default because of his parents, and it was great. This was a chance to choose a team.<\/p>\n The Golden Knights announced their name Nov. 22, 2016. That Christmas, he got Vegas merch.<\/p>\n “I’m like, ‘They’re going to be my West Coast team. I’m going to root for them. I’m going to cheer for them. Watching an expansion team, as a hockey fan, this is going to be interesting. I haven’t seen this,'” Tyler said. “But then I was just like, ‘I don’t want to just root for them. I want to be part of the reason why people root for them.'”<\/p>\n Tyler graduated from the University of North Carolina Wilmington with a film studies degree in May 2017 and joined the Golden Knights as a 22-year-old intern the next month, right after the expansion draft. On game nights in their inaugural season, he produced the castle stage at T-Mobile Arena.<\/p>\n The night before the Golden Knights hosted the Washington Capitals in Game 5 of the 2018 Stanley Cup Final, he invited Taylor to a rehearsal and surprised her with a marriage proposal at the castle — smoke shooting up from the turrets and confetti streamers shooting into the air with help from the game production department.<\/p>\n She said yes.<\/p>\n An Elvis impersonator married them at Little Church of the West on June 29, 2019.<\/p>\n “I’m stupid lucky,” Tyler said. “It’s incredibly humbling, and I’m incredibly grateful. I didn’t think I was going to be here this long. I just wanted to help get things off the ground, and then they made me full time, and then I’m still here.”<\/p>\n His parents are proud, although they handle their loyalties differently.<\/p>\n Dad is rooting for Carolina and letting everyone know it.<\/p>\n “There’s some good, friendly family banter going around,” Frank said. “Oh, yeah. We’re chirping. Big time.”<\/p>\n Mom is outwardly neutral, but when the Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in 2023, Tyler bought her a replica ring. The top of it comes off so it can be worn like a pendant. She had it in her pocket Saturday.<\/p>\n “I do love my Canes, but he’s my kid, so family comes first,” Robin said.<\/p>\n