It is an exciting time to be a hockey fan in the Reno Tahoe Area. Lake Tahoe Pro Hockey has announced their ECHL team name. From the depths of Lake Tahoe here come the Tahoe Knight Monsters. The Knight Monsters are the newest ECHL team. They will start play for the 2024-25 season. It was announced back in July that Lake Tahoe would be getting an ECHL expansion team. Earlier in November they announced they would be revealing their team name and logos at the end of the month. They announced their name and logos today.
https://www.facebook.com/ltprohockey/videos/652673970119378/
Out of all of the names suggested, they went with Knight Monsters. The Lake Tahoe ECHL team will officially be the Tahoe Knight Monsters. It seems as though they threw all of the team name suggestions out for something inspired by the suggestions while not directly choosing one. From what I saw the favored name was the Tahoe Tessies. That was not chosen. For me I still think they should have been the South Lake Tacos.
I feel like the name is a little too spot on. They could have been the Tessies or Bronze Knights or something else along those lines while using the same kind of imagery and overall brand theme. I feel like this just follows the trend of non-traditional team names started in 2020 by the Rocket City Trash Pandas. In the end I am not in love with it but I don’t hate it. It is something that will likely grow on me in time.
The Tahoe Lake Monsters name is inspired by the Vegas Golden Knights and the legend of Tahoe Tessie. With Knight in the name it is likely that there will be more future connections with the Vegas Golden Knights. The Vegas Golden Knights are currently affiliated with the Henderson Silver Knights of the AHL and the Savannah Ghost Pirates of the ECHL. I could not find additional information on the length of the Golden Knights current ECHL affiliation. I do know that they are affiliated with the Ghost Pirates until at least the end of the 2023-24 season. Knight being in the team also means that every professional ice hockey team in Nevada currently has Knight in their name.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters colors are teal, gold, and black. From what I can tell those colors are fairly unique in the sports world. Teal is becoming more popular with the popularity of the San Jose Sharks and Seattle Kraken. The dark teal used in their logo is close to the Sharks teal while light teal is close to the Krakens ice blue. The gold is same gold as the Vegas Golden Knights gold. The Knight Monsters primary logo has mountains, with a lake monster, and the team name. The Mountains are a reference to the mountainous Reno Tahoe region. The lake monster (which shall here fourth be named Tessie) has a dragon-like head with horns, and fangs with a body like a Plesiosaurs, and tail like a dragon. Tessie on the logo is a reference to Tessie the creature that lives in Lake Tahoe. The New Jersey Devils are another ice hockey team named after a local legendary creature. It looks like they used two custom fonts in their primary logo. The Knight Monsters are the twenty second team in the ECHL to have their team name in their primary logo.
Their first alternative logo is Tessies head from the primary logo. Their second alternate logo is a shield with an KM interlocking monogram. The shield is in the same shape as the Vegas Golden Knights and Henderson Silver Knights primary logos. It has a pattern on the shield reminiscent of the pattern seen used by the Vegas Golden Knights. The KM is for knight monsters. It is obviously inspired by the Vegas Golden Knights logo.
The third Tahoe Knights Monsters alternate logo is another shield logo. It is like the last logo except the KM monogram is replaced with a T. Their next alternate logo is the shape of Lake Tahoe with a close up on Tessies face. Their next alternate logo is the primary logo without the background.
The next Tahoe Knight Monsters alternate logo is mountains with the team name. The next alternate logo is a roundel style logo. It is a circle with Tessies head, their pattern, and the team name. Their next alternate logo is another mountain with the team name.
The last three Tahoe Knight Monsters logos are all wordmark logos. They also have another shield logo but I couldn’t find a good image of it.
It is unclear at this time if all of their current logos will be used for more than just merch. The Tahoe Lake Monsters have yet to announce their jerseys. Merch is available on their website. They have also shown off their season ticket prices. If the Tahoe Knight Monsters are affiliated with the Vegas Golden Knights their jerseys will likely look like the Vegas Golden Knights jerseys.
The whole name reveal reminds me of this cartoon. “Oh god what is that?. It’s a Liopleurodon Charlie. A magical Liopleurodon.”. All of the reactions I have seen have been along the lines of “Oh god what is that?”. So the video fits.
Zac Electrifly 
Leave a comment