Knights duo Golden in their roles
Alyssa Girardi, senior manager of communications and content for the Vegas Golden Knights, is in the right spot at the right time, to get a picture of Marc-Andre Fleury.
LAS VEGAS -- In a matter of seconds, tens of thousands of little girls became influenced by one controversial goal celebration in 1999.
With 90,000 screaming soccer fans in the Rose Bowl, and millions around the world watching, Brandi Chastain's winning goal in the Women's World Cup turned into a shirt-twirling moment that left the U.S. Women's soccer star celebrating in her sports bra.
For Alyssa Girardi, senior manager of communications and content for the Vegas Golden Knights, it was a pivotal moment.
"She ripped her shirt off, I was like, 'that girl is a badass!' Girardi said. "I think back to how I was influenced as a younger kid and saw, 'hey, there’s a place for women in that world.'"
That world is sports.
And together with Golden Knights rinkside reporter and television host Stormy Buonantony, they're excelling in areas of sports journalism that is deserving of recognition on any day of the year, not just National Girls and Women in Sports Day, which was celebrated on Feb. 3.
"I think what’s cool about being a woman in sports is that we feel like we’re celebrating it all the time and it is this cool little group that we’re a part of," Buonantony said during a joint-Zoom session the two held with WGRamirez.com from Arizona, where the Golden Knights were playing. "The day, the week, however you want to celebrate it, is really special."
For two young women who grew up passionate about sports, their path toward one another - as friends and colleagues - is even more special.
ICE IN HER VEINS
Growing up in the Detroit suburb Dearborn, Girardi was around hockey rinks all the time. She never actually played, not that many young girls did in her area back then. She took figure skating lessons - wasn’t into that. She took dance - wasn’t into that either. Watching hockey every day, Girardi said she was into hard-hitting action.
"My mom’s Canadian, so I say it’s literally in my blood that I love the sport so much," she said. "When I started playing soccer, I realized there were other things … I was into the contact-sport world."
Naturally, after seeing Chastain spin around after her left-footed kick hit the net with her fists clenched and dropping to her knees in a sports bra, it's not surprising Girardi ended up playing soccer for about 12 years before she ran track through middle school and high school.
"In hindsight, it’s crazy because people ask me all the time, 'you grew up loving hockey so much, why didn’t you play?'" she said. "It’s really cool to see how many young girls are playing hockey nowadays. If I could go back, I’d 100 percent would love to do that. It just wasn’t something I thought was super accessible."
Girardi studied journalism at Michigan State, where she covered the Spartans hockey team for three years, while specializing in public relations, a field she realized halfway through college she wanted to go into more than the journalism route. She went on to work for USA Hockey for two years between leaving Michigan State and arriving in Las Vegas.
Working for the Detroit Red Wings as a public relations assistant at the time, Girardi was named the 17th recipient of the Brian Fishman Internship, awarded annually to an outstanding college graduate pursuing a career in athletic communications. Girardi spent 12 months in the communications division at USA Hockey’s national office in Colorado Springs, and a second 12 months with the national team.
"Hockey is my passion," Girardi said at the time.
Two months before her internship ended, she got in touch with Eric Tosi, vice president of communications and content for the Golden Knights and landed a job with the NHL's newest franchise at the time.
"It’s always been hockey for me," said Girardi, an avid reader who knocked out 52 books in 2020 - one per week. "I wasn’t raised that something was out of the realm of possibility because I was a woman. Now I know how powerful that was to be raised that way. Now that I’m in my late 20s, I look back and it’s like I achieved what I have so far because I was raised to think, 'yeah, you can do it. If you want to work in sports, you can work in sports.'
"I never thought I couldn’t work for an NHL team because I’m a woman. That belief has helped fuel my career so far."
EYE OF THE STORM
Veteran NHL analyst Gary Lawless, one of the voices for the Golden Knights, championed Stormy Buonantony's work ethic by comparing it to one of the greatest hockey players of this era, Sidney Crosby.
When Buonantony was a little girl, she had no choice but to play on an all-boys basketball team. She didn't have the options so many little girls do now. Of course, it helped growing up in a male-dominated household with a football-loving father who kept his little girl by his side while watching Notre Dame football on Saturday afternoons and NFL every Sunday.
She watched her brothers play baseball, they'd go to neighborhood basketball courts to work on drills daily, and through those times her passion for sports grew stronger by the day. Like Girardi feeling hockey was in her bloodline, Buonantony grew up with sports as a part of the genetic code that strengthened the relationship with her father, Rich.
"That was how he and I bonded and developed our relationship over time, just me wanting to make Dad happy kind of a thing," Buonantony said. "My dad is my best friend, still to this day. He is such a great role model and influence, and shaped the person that I am. My love for sports really came to be through just wanting to bond with him."
Rich Buonantony had his daughter involved in basketball, baseball, bowling, gymnastics, all of which she said is the reason she's been able to impressively pad her resume as a broadcaster.
It was only a matter of time she was able to flip the switch while attending San Diego State, and realized sports was part of her daily fabric.
"This wouldn’t have been an option if my dad didn’t raise me like a boy, so to speak," she said. "Have that rub-some-dirt-on-it mentality, to be able to handle criticism and to know certain sports inside out."
Buonantony worked at the Mountain West Conference, moved on to the Carolina Panthers, and has served as a sideline reporter for ESPN college football games as recent as this past season.
The transition has been seamless, leaving the Carolinas and a solid position that included ESPN's coverage of ACC football to cover an ice hockey team - something she admittedly never saw happening in her hometown desert. In fact, during her time with the Mountain West and then with the Panthers, she never saw a career materializing in Las Vegas, considering there was no pro sports at the time.
"Her preparation is unmatched," Tosi said. "The work and prep she does for a game broadcast are impressive, it's inspiring. You can just tell how dedicated she is to her craft. You'd never know that she had never reported for a hockey team before joining the Vegas Golden Knights."
Veteran NHL analyst Gary Lawless, one of the voices for the Golden Knights, championed Buonantony's work ethic by comparing it to one of the greatest hockey players of this era.
"The best thing about Sidney Crosby is he's an elite talent with the soul of the fourth-line player that works hard at both ends of the ice - that's Stormy as a broadcaster," said Lawless, who spent 18 years as a broadcaster with the Winnipeg Jets before coming to Las Vegas. "She's got big-league chops, but really works hard. Stormy's a fantastic teammate, we're really lucky to have her."
GAME ‘MISSCONDUCT’
Lawless, who in many ways works for Girardi, under her umbrella of content, finds himself taking tips on media content from someone he believes will one day write her own ticket.
"She understands that side of the business better than anybody else in the building, she understands what people want to consume and how they want to consume it," Lawless said. "She has a real pulse for what people are interested in, she can make people laugh, she can make people think - a woman who I think is going to climb real high in the hockey world if she wants, or in another sport, or in another business.
"She's going to head up the content segment of a company at some point in her career. She's just getting started."
Behind Girardi's creativity and knack for drawing fans into her brand of innovative content, and Buonantony infectious on-air personality, the tandem has reached new heights this season, with a Golden Knights podcast entitled "Game MISSconduct," which is now three episodes into the series.
The show's purpose is to shine a light on women who are blazing trails and who have infiltrated the hockey scene. On each episode, Girardi and Buonantony ignite conversations with female figures who have made their mark in the mostly male-dominated sport, whether their guests hail from NHL broadcast booths, front offices, business or scouting staffs - they're introducing listeners to some of the most powerful women in the sport.
"Our goal is to, in every episode, have an interesting conversation with a woman who can work in any facet of hockey, essentially," said Buonantony, who's already revealed her fun-loving experience as a sideline reporter for the American Cornhole League in the second episode.
Both get deeper into their backgrounds, and path to the Golden Knights in that episode, while Girardi's personality continues to warm up in the public's eye - er, ear - considering her role with the team has always been behind the scenes. They also "get weird" near the end of each episode, opening the mailbag from listeners and asking quirky questions like their most embarrassing moments since joining VGK.
"Our persona on social media with the Golden Knights is what I’m most comfortable with," Girardi said. "It’s definitely weird for me to have this forward-facing personality, and thankfully I have a pro to help me along."
Immersed in their jobs, both Girardi and Buonantony have formed what is easily one of the NHL's best one-two combos that covers so many angles, all of which have helped the Golden Knights become one of the most popular franchises both inside and outside of their city.
"We have an organization that culturally supports advancement and supports pushing the boundaries," Tosi said. "They've both done a great job of pursuing their passions and interests and have both flourished within the Vegas Golden Knights because of their abilities and talent. They've been supported by our overall culture, and that starts from our owner, all the way through (COO) Kerry (Bubolz), through our team leaders.
"For both Stormy and Alyssa, they're tremendous examples of following their passion and not letting any barriers stand in their way."
