Silver Knights Season: Henderson's AHL Team and the Building That Anchors Downtown
The American Hockey League's Henderson Silver Knights play at Lee's Family Forum on Water Street — the minor-league engine of the Vegas Golden Knights' system, in the middle of Henderson's downtown revival.
Henderson's hockey team is an extension of the valley's hockey miracle. The Silver Knights are the American Hockey League affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights, created in 2020 when the NHL club bought and relocated a franchise, and rebranded for its Henderson home.
The team plays at Lee's Family Forum — the arena formerly known as the Dollar Loan Center — a roughly 6,000-seat building on Water Street that the city and the Golden Knights' organization developed as the centerpiece of downtown's revival. The building also serves as the organization's practice facility, and its plaza hosts the watch parties that turned Water Street into Henderson's living room during the Golden Knights' 2023 Stanley Cup run.
AHL hockey is the sport's finishing school: rosters mix NHL prospects, veteran professionals and players one injury away from a call-up to Las Vegas. November is when the AHL season's shape emerges — call-ups shuffle lines, young defensemen log heavy minutes, and the Pacific Division race begins its long sorting.
The Silver Knights' crowds are deliberately local: affordable tickets, valley families, and a game presentation scaled to the building. For Henderson kids in youth hockey, the pipeline from the city's rinks to a professional roster is visible from their seats.
The arena calendar extends past hockey — concerts, family shows and community events keep Water Street's anchor tenant busy year-round.
Vegas got the NHL team. Henderson got the future tense: the prospects, the practices, and a downtown that now has a heartbeat on game nights.
