The Vegas Golden Knights are in the thick of their preseason slate right now, but we can’t help but be distracted by all the hoopla surrounding Area 51.
Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you will be aware that there is somewhat of a storm brewing (nice pun, we know) at Area 51 today, the US military base that many people suspect houses aliens.
Yes, before we carry on, we really are talking about Area 51 and aliens. It’s Friday, leave us be.
Anyway, back to the hot topic of the day and thousands (hundreds in reality) are trying to get close to Area 51 today in order to try and catch a selfie with an alien all because of some crazy event set up on Facebook a few months ago.
If we needed a stark reminder that social media can be a crazy, ridiculous and mind-boggling place, then today is doing a good job of jogging our memory.
It is worth noting that there is more chance of the NHL not being the best sport on the planet than there is of people actually getting anywhere near the military base at Area 51 today and, even if they did, we doubt E.T. is going to be willing to hang out.
However, we at Vegas Hockey Knight love a bit of fun and given the fact that the team we cover are jumping on the Area 51 bandwagon (see below), we thought we would play a little game and put a starting lineup together that could storm Area 51 and mingle with aliens.
They do exist... #Area51 pic.twitter.com/Wl0aMWjntG
— 🏆 - Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) September 20, 2019
Let’s preface this by saying that our five skaters and one goalie will need to be fearless, physical, be able to boast a deadly release and, in an ideal world, we need someone who can hold a conversation with an alien if the occasion calls for it.
So, without further ado, let’s look at the starting lineup we’re going to attempt to storm Area 51 with…
Offense
Mark Stone–William Karlsson–Ryan Reaves
When constructing our offense, we opted to go for a line combining speed, skill, hockey smarts, brute power and a whole lot of firepower because, boy are we going to need it at Area 51.
Mark Stone is known for his raw speed and ability to punish teams on a slick breakaway, and we’ll need his quickness coupled with his silky mitts to help us break into the military base once we get there. He can always handle himself too so that will come in handy.
That’s where Ryan Reaves comes in. The bruising enforcer is known for dropping the gloves and laying a beating on his opponent, and we’re going to need his fighting skills to help stave off any unhappy military personnel.
They might come at us hard but, with Reavo on our side, then we are confident of our chances of getting past the army and into the base.
And that’s where William Karlsson, better known as ‘Wild Bill’ comes in. Known for his speed, skill, deadly release and calm demeanour, who better to rely on in a standoff with any aliens should they be hostile towards us in the beginning.
We’re in the desert after all and we are going to need our favorite gun-slinging cowboy to help us survive our surroundings and navigate any sudden confrontation.
Defense
Moving on to the backend and we had a lot to consider when picking our two blueliners to go into battle with us. You need a certain skill-set to be able to pull off a daunting task such as this and, in the end, there were only two men for the job…
Nate Schmidt is an obvious choice for us. The joker of the locker room, Schmidt is also Mr. Bubbly and he could charm the locals and help our cause should the situation become a little bit too sticky.
Also, if we do encounter any aliens then who better to have Schmidt to help communicate with a new species? After all, everyone loves Nate Schmidt and we think he would go down a treat with any extraterrestrials we may encounter.
And then we have Deryk Engelland who knows Vegas and the surrounding areas like the back of his hand, so we would be leaning on him for his knowledge and how to best navigate the desert and Area 51.
Plus, Engelland has been durable throughout his career and he’s capable of logging monster minutes night in and night out, and that’s exactly the kind of endurance we are going to need on this mission.
Goalie
This is an easy choice. Not only can Marc-Andre Fleury stop everything that is thrown at him and do it while putting on a show, he also brings an abundance of other qualities to the table.
For starters, he is one of the biggest pranksters in the NHL and we could rely on him to distract any fuming military base officials while the rest of our lineup finds a way to sneak into Area 51.
But, failing that, we could get Fleury to crack a few jokes to try and ease the tension if we were to get caught in the process. Likewise, who better than Fleury to impress our alien friends and get them on our side straightaway?
So, in conclusion, that is the starting lineup we would take with us to help storm Area 51 and we’re pretty confident it would work a treat. And, if the plan did fail, then at least we could get Marc-Andre Fleury, Nate Schmidt and Ryan Reaves to entertain our fellow crazy alien enthusiasts while we are all detained.
This is obviously a bit of fun and it is topical given that Area 51 is trending right now, but we don’t advocate actually storming the military base. That wouldn’t be a smart idea at all. Anyway, we’ve had our fun now and we’ll get back to serious hockey stuff soon.
Promise!
Oh, but before we go, please check out the NHL team that could storm Area 51 as picked by our good friends at Puck Prose. You can see the players they picked in full here.