Marc-Andre Fleury listed as Nevada state flower on Wikipedia

Las Vegas Review-Journal

6 years ago

Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (29) reaches out for the puck during the first overtime period of Game 2 of an NHL hockey second-round playoff series against the San Jose Sharks at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, April 28, 2018. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto

San Jose Sharks left wing Marcus Sorensen (20) tries to score against Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (29) during the second period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey second-round playoff series at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Friday, May 4, 2018. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto

Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (29) makes a save in overtime during game two of their second round playoff series on Saturday, April 28, 2018, at T-Mobile Arena, in Las Vegas. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto

Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury may be Nevada’s favorite goalie, but he somehow rose to even higher prominence on Wednesday.

Randy Dudek, a hockey fan from Middleborough, Massachusetts changed Wikipedia’s official “List of U.S. state and territory flowers” page to list Fleury as Nevada’s official state flower. The listing was changed shortly after it was made public.

The listing included the “scientific name” as “Gardien de but,” the French translation for “goalkeeper.”

Nevada’s state flower listed on Wikipedia on Wednesday, May 9, 2018.

Fleury’s well-known nickname is “flower” because the French word for flower is “fleur.”

Dudek said he saw a call out on Twitter from Reece Westerlund, a Las Vegas local and Knights fan, looking for “fancy hackers” to change the listing for the state flower on Wikipedia.

“I saw it and thought it was an incredible idea,” Dudek said. “And I had the 10 minutes needed to do it.”

Dudek made the change Tuesday, but the public didn’t start catching on to the change until early Wednesday.

Later Wednesday afternoon, the “List of Nevada state symbols” was also updated to name the Knights’ mascot Chance the Gila Monster as the official state reptile.

Nevada state symbols Wikipedia page as seen on Wednesday, May 9, 2018.

Nevada’s official state flower is actually sagebrush and the official state reptile is a desert tortoise.

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Contact Elaine Wilson at ewilson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @WilsonElaineM on Twitter.