Sidewinders among rejected Vegas team names

After months of speculation, the NHL knighted its 31st franchise Tuesday, as it unveiled the Vegas Golden Knights.

In the end, franchise owner Bill Foley, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, couldn't move away from a name similar to that of his alma mater, the Black Knights.

As for some of the other names that were considered?

"I liked Nighthawks, we had that name. I liked Desert Hawks. I kind of liked Sidewinders," Foley told Nicholas J. Cotsonika of NHL.com. "But I wanted a name that was more team-oriented and being about the warrior class, which is what hockey players are."

Vegas also considered other variations of the Knights name.

"Silver Knights was an option because this is the Silver State, but Nevada is the largest gold producer in the country," Foley told Case Keefer of the Las Vegas Sun. "Gold is a precious metal, the No. 1 metal versus silver. I didn't feel Desert Knights had character to it."

As for the Golden Knights logo, according to the Sun, the original concept featured a knight in armor, then shifted to a knight on horseback, before ultimately deciding on the knight helmet logo.

"It was almost unanimous. (Golden Knights) was almost everyone's favorite," said Vegas GM George McPhee. "When we pushed names around in meetings, they asked me what I thought of Golden Knights, and I said, 'That's my favorite.'"