Photo Gallery – Firebirds vs Canucks – October 23rd
All photos taken by Brian Liesse. Photos are property of Sound Of Hockey and cannot be reused.
Special teams let down Kraken in ugly 5-4 loss to Blackhawks
After a promising win Friday night against the Stanley Cup champions, the Seattle Kraken collapsed against the rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks, losing 5-4 at the United Center on Sunday.
The Blackhawks (3-2-0) scored twice in the third period to erase a 4-3 Kraken lead and move ahead. Seattle (2-3-2) dominated the first 15 minutes of play, but poor special teams allowed the Blackhawks to get back in the game.
“Disappointing loss,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “We did a lot of things that get you beat on the road. You look at our faceoffs and specialty teams early, including a short-handed goal that really feeds them and gives them life in the hockey game, down to most importantly just the way we checked and played without the puck in the last 45 minutes of the hockey game.”
Seattle outshot the Blackhawks 34-27, but the combination of the Kraken’s 0-for-4 power play plus Chicago’s 2-for-3 power play and a short-handed goal played huge.
Chicago was led by two goals from Tyler Johnson and two assists from Seth Jones. Alex Stalock made 30 saves for the Blackhawks who won for the second straight game.
“They pressured up ice which I thought, it was difficult to handle,” Matty Beniers said about the Seattle power play. “I think they were just in lanes, blocked some shots and had some good saves.”
Seattle took a 4-3 lead at 10:43 of the second period when Vince Dunn jumped in the zone and Jared McCann hit his tape with a pass. Dunn scored his first of the season.
Despite looking like Seattle may be in control, the Blackhawks scored twice in 13 seconds during the third period to tie and then take the lead.
First it was Johnson for his second at 12:57 of the period. After the Kraken threw the puck away behind the net, it found its way to Johnson in front. Dickinson would then score from the faceoff circle to give Chicago a 5-4 lead.
The Blackhawks scored those two goals in the third despite only having five shots on goal.
McCann had a goal and an assist, Beniers scored a goal, and Martin Jones allowed five goals on 22 shots.
“Our play was sporadic,” Hakstol said. “In the third period we had the game going the way we wanted to. It comes down to, we made two mistakes. One is on a breakout which is just a simple read for everybody, but we ad-libbed. And the game winner right after, it is just on a return to D-zone and getting to the right spot, and we didn’t do those things. Those are things that come back to haunt you and they do it quick.”
How it played out
McCann scored his third goal of the season and second in two games to make it 1-0 at 5:46 of the first period. McCann started the play by sending a pass to Karson Kuhlman who found Morgan Geekie in the middle of the ice on the rush. Geekie slid it over to McCann who scored on an open net.
Under two minutes later, at 7:31, Jordan Eberle stole the puck on the half boards in Chicago’s end and slid it to Andre Burakovsky who buried his third of the year to give the Kraken a 2-0 lead.
Chicago cut the lead to 2-1 with its NHL-leading fourth short-handed goal at 17:04 when former Everett Silvertips Jujhar Khaira tapped in a pass from Colin Blackwell.
Before the period was over, the Blackhawks tied the game, 2-2, on a power-play goal by the Spokane native Johnson.
The Blackhawks scored an early goal on the power play to take a 3-2 lead 32 seconds into the second period when Max Domi put back a rebound.
Matty Beniers responded just 19 seconds later to tie the game at 3-3 when Jaden Schwartz’s pass was deflected but still got through to the crease where Beniers banged it in.
“We’ve got to stay on the gas,” McCann said. “There’s no easy way to put it, we let off. They’ve got players who can make plays… you can’t let up on a team like that.”
In the numbers
By all accounts this should have been a game the Kraken won. They had a 54.5 percent advantage in unblocked shot attempts while playing 5-on-5 and enjoyed 58 percent of the shot quality.
Rookie forward Shane Wright was only on the ice for 5:51 of ice time, took no shots, but was on the ice for a goal. McCann and Dunn each had four shots on goal to lead Seattle, and Adam Larsson led the team in ice time with 22:24.
Tentacle Tales
- McCann had multiple points for the second consecutive game. He scored multiple points 12 times last season, most on the Kraken roster.
- Jordan Eberle had an assist Sunday on Burakovsky’s goal. It was career point 599 for Eberle, and he’s one point away from joining Steven Stamkos (981 points) and Erik Karlsson (665) as the third player from the 2008 NHL Draft class to reach 600 NHL Points.
- Sunday was the third time this season that the Kraken have allowed five goals. They are 0-2-1 in those games.
- Sunday was the second multi-goal comeback in a row for Chicago.
- Jones started in place of Philipp Grubauer who was injured Friday night and is day-to-day with a lower body injury. Joey Daccord was recalled from AHL Coachella Valley.
- The Kraken were without forward Yanni Gourde who was home with a ‘personal matter.’
The unwritten rules of the no-helmet warmup in the NHL
Teams across the National Hockey League have exclusive clubs embedded within them. The privilege of joining those clubs requires a level of tenure, panache, and… well… hair product.
Curious about the unwritten rules of ditching the helmet in warmups, we asked the members of the Seattle Kraken chapter of the No-Bucket Warmer-Upper Club (that’s what we call it here at Sound Of Hockey) how they decide whether to protect their noggins or let the locks flow. Their answers taught us a lot and gave us some good laughs along the way.
Here’s what we learned about the longstanding NHL tradition of the bucketless warmup.
It’s all about the hair, for most
Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson—two frequent but not entirely consistent members of the NBWUC—shared similar sentiments about deciding whether to don a helmet or not. For the defensive partners, it’s actually quite simple.
“For me, it’s how good my hair looks,” Larsson said.
“Yeah, me too,” added Dunn. “It’s how fresh my haircut is.”
Brandon Tanev is the most committed member of the club and one of the Seattle chapter’s founding members. We can’t recall a time when we’ve seen him wear a helmet in warmups. In fact, in a game early last season, he took a puck to the forehead and hustled off the ice to get stitched up before the opening face-off. The following game, he was right back out there without a helmet, forehead stitches and all.
Tanev, coincidentally, has perhaps the best flow on the team. But he says it isn’t so much about letting his hair down, rather a privilege that comes with tenure and experience. “The more games you play in the league, you’re able to do it, so you do it.” Fair enough.
Alex Wennberg’s approach is a bit more nuanced. “The warmup is to get prepared mentally,” he said. “It still doesn’t change the way you play at all, so every now and then you switch it up. And I mean, sometimes— it’s not like you’re superstitious, but sometimes it feels like the routines are working and sometimes you want to switch it up.”
Product is paramount
As Larsson and Dunn suggested there are external factors to consider, namely what hair products are available to the players on a given night. Larsson, for example, says he doesn’t travel with product, so what he uses is reliant upon what is provided in the locker room. If there’s no gel to give him the “wet look” that he prefers, you better believe he’s wearing a helmet that night.
Dunn also noted that Larsson’s gameday grooming routine can factor into the Swedish defenseman’s decision. “I know for Lars, if he conditions his hair, he’s probably not going to go no bucket because his hair is too soft; it’s not styled enough.” For the record, Dunn’s product of choice is paste.
And although Wennberg leans on how he’s feeling on a particular night, he too admits product can play a role in the decision. “I will say that if I don’t have any product in the hair, there is no way I’m going out without a bucket.”
The case against joining the NBWUC
Those that are not regular members of the NBWUC have their own reasons to stay helmeted. Morgan Geekie tried it once, but it was under specific circumstances. “My buddy was in town, and he bet me 20 bucks that I wouldn’t do it.” So, that was easy money for Geekie.
The one-time payout wasn’t enough to prod Geekie into the club permanently, though. He says growing up, he thought one of the coolest things about the NHL was seeing guys warm up without helmets on, yet even for him, the decision to typically stay helmeted comes down to follicles. “I don’t have nice enough hair to not wear it,” he said. “Earlier last year, I maybe could have when I had long hair, but Wenny, Tanev, all those guys that do it with no helmet, you can tell there’s a reason why they do it.”
A privilege reserved for veterans
It was borderline shocking to see Shane Wright take his traditional rookie lap Wednesday without a bucket, though that action was likely demanded by Seattle’s veterans to add to the moment. Aside from that situation, in which veterans are mandating a bucketless warmup, it would be unheard of and unacceptable for a rookie to try to join the NBWUC.
To determine when a player can begin shedding his protective lid, Tanev doesn’t have a specific point in mind for when that would be tolerable. “It’s at the discretion of the older guys,” he says. “The older guys when I was playing— when I was younger, you have a certain amount of games, and you’re able to do it, and that’s about it.”
Larsson and Dunn thought the threshold was a bit more cut and dried, putting the minimum for NHL service time at somewhere between 200 and 250 games played.
Wennberg, meanwhile, didn’t try it until he was with the Florida Panthers and playing his 400th career game. “This is just how I came into the league,” he said. “When you’re a rookie or a couple years in, you’re not really going out without a bucket. It feels like more of a veteran thing, and in Columbus we weren’t allowed, so for me, I tried it first in Florida when I had the opportunity.”
A decision rarely discussed in advance
You might think the decision to show the hair would be something that gets discussed nightly by players in the dressing room, but that isn’t the case. It’s typically an under-the-radar, personal decision that is made quietly.
“I’m more of a guy who shows up, and when you walk the line [to go onto the ice] and you don’t wear your bucket, that’s when people will see it,” explained Wennberg. For him, it’s almost like a surprise reveal.
He adds, though, that there are rare occasions when teammates push each other to ditch the dome.
“If a bunch of guys on the team are saying, ‘It’s got to be a no-bucket night for you, your hair’s on point,’ yeah. I get that comment every now and then, but I don’t really spread the word.”
Monday Morning Musings – October 17
We are introducing a new feature on Sound Of Hockey called Monday Morning Musings. It will be a collection of random thoughts and observations about the last week of activity from the hockey world with an emphasis on the Kraken and other Puget Sound teams. If you have suggestions or feedback, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them to us directly on twitter.
Kraken thoughts
- After three games, but we still do not know how good this team is going to be this season. If you told me the Kraken would capture three out of six points in the opening three games to start the season, I would have been happy. But how they got the points leaves me scratching my head. They looked great in Anaheim and Los Angeles and then laid an egg in the home opener against Vegas, so it is hard to get a good read on what this team is capable of this season.
- I am not sure the next three games will give us any more clarity. This might be one of the tougher three-game stretches of the 2022-23 campaign. Carolina, St. Louis, and Colorado were a collective 159-87 last season and 6-2 versus the Kraken. Getting at least three points in these next three games would be very encouraging.
- Speaking of encouraging, the Kraken power play looks much better this season with power-play goals in each of the first three games and a power-play success rate of 38 percent compared to last season’s 15 percent. It is still early, but let’s celebrate positives where we can.
- Shane Wright was a healthy scratch for the second game in a row Saturday. Obviously, if the team is going to scratch him more often than play him, they should send him to the OHL, but let us see how the next couple weeks play out before we start demanding he be sent down. Over the last three seasons, only Cole Sillinger played more than 70 games in the season immediately after his draft. With this in mind, yes, Wright could be sent back, but we should be patient here instead of immediately grabbing our pitchforks.
- It was a little surprising to see Martin Jones get the start in net for the home opener on Saturday night. He did have a good game against the Kings on Thursday, and although not overly tested, he did make some timely saves when the boys needed it. On Saturday night, Jones did allow a few bad goals, but he is not the reason the Kraken lost. Regardless, I expect Grubauer to get most of the starts over the next week to settle into his crease.
- After an injury plagued 2021-22 season, it is great to see Jaden Schwartz back on the ice. He has two power-play goals in the first three games and hopefully he can keep it rolling.
- The Coachella Valley Firebirds played and won their first game in franchise history on Sunday afternoon. It was a little sketchy, but it is always better to win ugly than lose pretty. The Firebirds had a 5-1 lead halfway through the second period, only to see the Calgary Wranglers claw back to make it a one-goal game with five minutes left in the third. Joey Daccord kept the Wranglers out of the net for the last few minutes and clinched the first ever franchise victory. As a reminder, the Firebirds will have four games in the Seattle area but only two of them will have regular tickets available: Sunday, Oct. 23, at Climate Pledge Arena and Friday, Oct. 28, at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett.
Player Performances
- Former Tri-City American and current Detroit Red Wings center Michael Rasmussen kicked off his 2022-23 season in style with a three-point night in the Wings game against Montreal on Friday night.
- After missing the entire pre-season, former Everett Silvertips standout goalie, Carter Hart, saved 35 of 37 shots in the Philadelphia Flyers’ first game of the season.
- We are all rooting for Mason Marchment this season after the hockey world tragically lost his father, Bryan, right before the NHL Entry Draft in July. Mason has three goals in two games with the Dallas Stars.
On the docket
As mentioned above, the Kraken have a challenging three games coming up this week. Here is the rundown.
Carolina Hurricanes – Monday, Oct. 17, at Climate Pledge Arena
The Canes are a legitimate cup contender this year and will be a benchmark game for the Kraken. Seattle will need to get Saturday night’s game out of its system and what better way to do it than beating a team that is widely considered one of the best in the league?
Hurricanes Current Record: 2-0-0
Players to watch:
- Brent Burns –traded to Carolina from San Jose this offseason, Burns continues to be a fun player to watch. He is not afraid to jump up in the play and create offense…for both teams. Burns plays fast and loose, which makes his time on the ice entertaining to say the least.
- Seth Jarvis – The 20-year-old former Portland Winterhawk and friend of the Sound Of Hockey podcast is an up and comer in this league with a bit of flash. Jarvis plays the bulk of his minutes with Sebastian Aho and is capable of creating highlight-reel goals.
St. Louis Blues – Wednesday, Oct. 19, at Climate Pledge Arena
The Blues are coming off a 109-point campaign in the 2021-22 season with very few changes to the roster. Most analysts have them as a lock for the playoffs for 2022-23. The Blues went 3-0 against the Kraken last year and outscored them 11-2 in those three games.
Blues current record: 1-0-0
Players to watch:
- Robert Thomas – strong two-way player that can score and dish the puck. He is coming off a career season in 2021-22 with 77 points (20G/57A) over 72 games.
- Jake Neighbours – 2022-23 will be the former first-round draft pick’s rookie season. Neighbours had 45 points in just 30 games last year with the Edmonton Oil Kings in the WHL. Along with Thomas, Neighbours is projected to be one of the future cornerstones of the Blues.
Colorado Avalanche – Friday, Oct. 21, at Ball Arena, Denver
They are the reigning Stanley Cup Champions and a favorite to win it again this season. The Avalanche did lose Andre Burakovsky to the Kraken and Nazim Kadri to the Flames, so that is 50 goals lost in the offseason. Still, they should be just fine.
Avalanche current record: 1-1-0
Players to watch:
- Cale Makar – there are about eight players on the Avalanche worth focusing on, but Cale Makar is one of the best, if not the best defenseman in the NHL. He is so exciting to watch on both ends of the ice and is truly an innovative player that is changing the position.
- Alex Newhook – only 21 years old, Newhook spent last season bouncing around the third and fourth lines. With the departure of Kadri, he will get more opportunity this season including some power-play time. Newhook might be a year or two away from a breakout, but the foundations are there, and he has the capability to make some dazzling plays.
Chart of the week
Three games is not a big sample, but if the Kraken expect to be more competitive, the power play is one area it must improve over last year. Early signs are encouraging.
Beyond the NHL
Outside of the Kraken organization, there are quite a few Pacific Northwest teams that are playing good hockey in their respective leagues. In the WHL, the Seattle Thunderbirds, Everett Silvertips, and Portland Winterhawks are a collective 21-2 and are outscoring their opponents 115-69. If you want to circle a game on the calendar, you might want to consider the Nov. 5 game when Portland visits Seattle for the first time this season.
The Thunderbirds look pretty stacked right now with five NHL-drafted players on their roster, but another name people should keep an eye on is Gracyn Sawchyn. Sawchyn is eligible for the 2023 NHL Entry Draft and is off to a fast start with 11 points in 7 games. Some say he could be drafted in the first round of the draft in July.
Finally, the Seattle Totems (USPHL – Junior A) and Washington Huskies (ACHA) are off to hot starts. The Totems, who play out of Olympic View Ice Center in Montlake Terrace are 7-3 and have outscored opponents 50-36. Meanwhile, the Huskies, who play out of Kraken Community Iceplex are 4-2. If you are looking for some fun and affordable hockey to watch, consider supporting these players in what should be entertaining hockey.
Sound Of Hockey Ep. 209 – The Season Is Here!
It’s here! It’s here! It’s finally here!
The second season in the history of the Seattle Kraken has arrived, and the Sound Of Hockey Podcast is thrilled about it. With Andy absent for this episode, John and Darren manage to talk listeners through the 23-man roster that will open the season Wednesday in Anaheim. They also review the last preseason game, project forward lines, and give thanks that Joey Daccord is still in the organization.
Additionally, John and Darren got the goods from Kraken VP of Marketing, Katie Townsend, about all of the exciting changes fans can expect for the gameday experience at Climate Pledge Arena. Darren wrote about this on soundofhockey.com, in case you’re looking for more info on this topic. Spoiler: there are a LOT of changes coming this season.
After talking about the in-arena updates, the show shifts to segments. Segments for this episode include Goalie Gear Corner, Weekly One-Timers, and TWEET of the Week.
SUBSCRIBE! ENJOY! REVIEW!
Smiles abound as Kraken partner with ReWA to make ice sports more accessible
SEATTLE — A quiet Wednesday morning at the Kraken Community Iceplex is given noisy life as 60 children bound through the front door with squeals of joy, anticipation, and excitement. The children sit on benches patiently as their teachers and chaperones lace skates to their feet. They are escorted out to the ice where they grip orange cones, many apprehensive about letting their skates touch the ice.
It is the first day on the ice for the kids, many of whom have never been inside an ice rink before.
Day one
Wednesday was day one of a learn to skate program for children whose families participate in early learning centers with the Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA) and the Kraken’s One Roof Foundation. It’s the second year of the program that runs for 32 weeks. At the end of the on-ice session, the same children who dared not to let go of the cones on the ice in the beginning were flying around it.
“The children are working individually to build their confidence but also working as a team,” Susan Lee, ReWA operations director for early learning centers said. “They know that when they fall down, they will get up and somebody is going to give them a hand. But they can also do it themselves, and that’s something that a parent had shared with me on their first day last year.”
ReWA has been serving the local community for the past 35 years and is nationally renowned for its work with refugee and immigrant women and their families, taking a holistic approach to promote integration and self-sufficiency. The goal is to quickly and effectively stabilize clients, promote acculturation, increase language proficiency, and improve employability.
The learn to play clinics are part of that goal as well as opening access to children who might not otherwise feel welcome on the ice.
“We wanted to remove barriers to entry of the sport of ice hockey and to ice skating, and transportation is a huge barrier,” Kraken community engagements and youth access specialist Andrew Bloom said. “We found this group that we could work with, to bring the kids here to the Iceplex and remove that transportation barrier on top of the cost barrier. This is a very diverse group of kids and having them start at such a young age, they’re going to have the same advantage as any other kid.”
On the ice, the four- and five-year-old’s participating go through the trials of learning to skate. That includes pushing objects down the ice like giant cones, chairs, and plastic seals.
There is also the expected falls, but they get up every time, and the one constant among the diverse group is the smiles and laughter.
“I can speak on behalf of the families and the children that this is an amazing opportunity to really bridge the gap of equity and accessibility in early learning,” Lee said. “Especially for ice skating, and hockey, which is a really expensive sport. This is ensuring that our early learners, who I would say about 95 percent are low-income families, children of color, families of color are now able to have a foundation for future growth and this really opens their eyes as well for endless possibilities. These are future Olympians and hockey players.”
The Kraken skills coaches and youth hockey coaches help the on-ice instruction. ReWA serves families who speak up to 60 different languages, but a common language of ice skating becomes the norm for the kids.
Buoy brings added excitement
Near the end of Wednesday’s sessions, the Kraken mascot, Buoy, took the ice to the delight of the skaters who mobbed the mascot and posed for a group photo before they shuffled off the ice with just as much excitement as when they took to the ice 45 minutes earlier.
Hockey is the Kraken’s main business, but that’s not the ultimate point of the learn-to-skate partnership with ReWA.
“It’s learn to skate first,” Bloom said. “We definitely introduce hockey after they get comfortable on the ice. In the coming weeks we’ll introduce hockey sticks and do a little learn to play hockey for free type of event and just get them exposed to it.”
Whether the kids move on to hockey or into figure skating and other skating sports is irrelevant. The benefits go beyond the ice and sport.
It’s not only fun but helping in these young children’s development.
“It’s about social and emotional skills,” Lee said pointing to a young girl skating a chair around the ice. “It’s about their physical skill as well gross motor skills, their fine motor skills and cognitive as well. All of these are in place as the children are learning. For example, this little girl, she’s coordinating her skates and her skating, right? But it’s using her audio and her visual, gross motor skills, and learning from one another through modeling.
So, there’s a lot of learning. Yes, you’re having fun, but there’s a tremendous amount of learning. These kids here, they’re all from different countries, different cultures and this is really exposing them to something that is tangible.”
Watching from just outside the glass were the parents, armed with cell phones to record the memories through picture and video.
The smiles outside the rink were just as plentiful as the kids on the ice.
In the build up of the Kraken becoming an official NHL team, executives from the franchise to be spoke a lot about the importance of being more than just a hockey team. They wanted to be a community partner, and a partnership such as the one with ReWA is proving it wasn’t just lip service.
“As an immigrant child myself, this would have been something that I wish I had,” Lee said. “This is a dream come true for me to be able to see 60 of my kids in our programming, having this ability, this accessibility, to enjoy themselves and not think about the disparity and where they come from. This allows them a space to really express themselves. It gives me hope that corporations such as the Kraken can think about investing in the future of early learning. I’m grateful, I’m very hopeful, and I hope that other professional sports team will follow their example.”
