Eric Staal was in the building to hype up the Carolina Hurricanes for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. Instead, Vegas fans fixated on his hat.
Staal was photographed wearing a Summit Club hat, a logo Las Vegas locals recognize as tied to Summerlin’s ultra-exclusive golf and residential scene. It was the kind of detail that turns into instant bulletin-board material when the opponent is the Vegas Golden Knights.
Then Carolina poured gas on it.
“Everybody Hates You, Vegas” hit the board with the Canes up 2-0
A fan photo from inside Lenovo Center shows the Hurricanes’ video board displaying, “Everybody Hates You, Vegas,” above the Carolina logo. The scoreboard visible in that same photo shows the Hurricanes leading 2-0 with 7:32 left in the first period.
That timing mattered to Vegas fans because it came while Carolina had full control of the game and the crowd was rolling. However, the night did not stay on script.
What Summit Club is, and why the logo reads “Vegas” instantly
Summit Club is not a national chain in the way fans mean it when they joke about “repping” a brand. On its website, Summit Club describes itself as a members-only residential community spread across more than 600 acres of desert landscape with a Tom Fazio-designed course and 260 residences.
The site also frames it as Las Vegas’ most exclusive neighborhood, located minutes from the Strip and Red Rock Canyon, and part of Discovery Land Company’s network of luxury communities. That is why the hat landed as a Vegas-coded detail to Golden Knights fans even in a Carolina arena.
Fans turned the hat into a running joke
The hat became an easy dunk because it came in the same night as the board message.
In a Facebook post, Robert Ford wrote: “They said ‘Everyone hates you, Vegas’ on their Jumbotron. But did anyone else notice that Eric Staal is reppin Vegas? That’s a Summit Club hat from Summitclubnv.com. That’s hilarious and maybe slightly embarrassing for them.”
Responses kept the same energy. James Childs replied, “Well that worked out well for the Canes…..NOT!!!!” Wayne Cordes added, “I can’t hear you over this win.”
James MacLean Jr. called it “the level of tackiness, from ownership on down,” in the same thread reacting to the board message.
On X, the account “VGK OWNS YOUR FRANCHISE ⚔️” posted: “People only hate you if you’re doing something right,” leaning into the villain label Vegas has heard since the franchise arrived.
Vegas flipped the night and took Game 1 anyway
The reason the screenshots traveled is the ending. The Golden Knights rallied from the early 2-0 deficit and beat Carolina 5-4 in Game 1, turning the arena’s troll into a receipt Vegas fan could reuse.
Dice City Sports has reached out to the Hurricanes to confirm the origin, timing and intent of the “Everybody Hates You, Vegas” graphic, including whether it was an official in-arena prompt. We have also reached out to Staal to ask about the Summit Club hat and whether he has ties to Las Vegas.
We are awaiting responses from both and will update this story if either replies.
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Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, Athletics, and UNLV baseball and softball. He has 24 years of journalism experience, is also a senior reporter at Exhibit City News, and previously covered the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Follow him on X or connect on LinkedIn.
