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SEATTLE – Will latte-sipping Seattle embrace the brawny NHL and its newest team?
I asked this Three years ago on these pages, after announcing that the league’s 32nd franchise would soon be based in a city where the final brush with hockey fame came from a Stanley Cup-winning team, metropolises, folded in 1924.
The answer is now obvious: step aside and make some room, Russell Wilson. This city is in the throes of a love affair with its newest big crew.
The first movements were obvious from the very beginning. On the first day they could, 32,000 fans deposited just for the chance to buy season tickets. There were about 60,000 names on a waiting list.
Today, fans line up early to watch practice at the team’s sleek new headquarters. The team will play its first game on Saturday at the Climate Pledge Arena. After the team made its name and went public with its blue and red logo, Kraken products became ubiquitous. And talking about NHL hockey has become a thing.
Nowhere in this affluent, rapidly changing metropolis will you find a passion for Kraken more than at Angry Beaver, known as Seattle’s original hockey bar.
Tucked away in a low-lying neighborhood on the north end of town, Angry Beaver is a shrine for gaming alone and not a must-stop for Kraken fans. It symbolizes the struggle to survive during this pandemic: the trials and sufferings of the moment; the way communities come together to survive, in this case sport and hockey at the center.
When the bar opened in 2012, the NHL wasn’t on Seattle’s radar. When people were deep in thought about new sports franchises, they often talked about righting a wrong: reclaiming an NBA team after the SuperSonics went to Oklahoma City in 2008. (Most Seattleites say their team was completely stolen.)
“In 2012, no one was talking about a hockey team as anything more than a remote possibility,” said Tim Pipes, owner of Angry Beaver, a former rock musician who grew up in Toronto who loves the Maple Leafs.
Pipes, 59, set up his business for a small slice of tried-and-true puck heads in town, many of whom had moved here from areas with NHL traditions – New York or Boston, for example.
Jobs late one March evening in 2016, gas leak turned into a big explosion This has razed several businesses across the street from Angry Beaver.
No one was injured inside the bar that night, but inside it looked as if a hurricane had whipped him.
Pipes boarded the building for a while and prepared for return.
A few weeks later, the thieves attacked in the dark before dawn, taking away the priceless memories and ruining the place again.
Pipes could then walk away and leave behind his dreams and hundreds of beloved customers. But he continued on his way. When is the NHL Announced in 2018, Seattle will get a new franchise, this seemed like a brilliant decision.
“After years of struggle, I was finally ready to make this real breakthrough,” Pipes said.
Then came the epidemic. The bar bore the same burden felt by small businesses across the country. It was closed by government order. Then it opened at partial capacity. The pipes tried to turn. He turned his bar into a takeaway restaurant. When it failed, it closed again.
“I was so overwhelmed that I wanted to run away from everything,” Pipes said. “I wanted to get in my truck, throw my dog and go to Canada.”
More than anything else, it was his loyal customers that kept him going. They launched a GoFundMe campaign and raised nearly $42,000 to help keep their favorite puddle afloat.
With Kraken’s opening season excitingly close, the calculus is simple: can Angry Beaver stay open long enough to capitalize on the attention it generates from customers and the team?
With grace and good will, Angry Beaver has stayed open long enough. And now it’s evolving.
Standards and new timers for Kraken pre-season matches have set the bar high. During the team’s regular season opener last week, in an away game against the Vegas Golden Knights, Angry Beaver rocked with lively energy. The rafters shook as Seattle’s new team scored three goals in a row to level the score.
This game ended in a tough 4-3 loss for Seattle, but the defeat didn’t dampen the enthusiasm much.
On Saturday, an hour before Kraken’s away game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, fans were again stuck inside the Angry Beaver.
New to the neighborhood after a recent move from the East Coast, longtime Devils fan Todd Rosenbaum and his wife, Rosie, were sitting ready to embrace Kraken.
Standing was Leif O’Leary, a Boston Bruins fan wearing a Boston Bruins jersey. O’Leary grew up in the Northeast and now says he’ll find a place in his heart for his second favorite team.
Jeff Roman was perched on the bar, learning as he watched. “I am a first time Kraken fan and a first time hockey fan,” he said. “I got into this when I watched the second Seattle game on TV this week. It was so fast and dynamic that ‘Where has this game been in my life?’ I thought. Now I will always hang out at this bar.”
On the ice, the game against the Blue Jackets was typical of Seattle’s first season: fierce and hard-fought battles, two teams eventually separated by a single goal. Seattle lost 2-1 in overtime, moving the season record to 1-1-1.
Pipes watched everything from the sidewalk just outside the bar. This first week was an emotional week. He was walking around with a lump in his throat.
“It’s easier not to be at the bar right now,” she said as tears welled up in her eyes. “I can’t help thinking about everything we’ve been through. I was so close to losing this place. It’s like I have PTSD but I’m recovering now because Kraken is here. We held on, the team finally arrived and the hockey fans are ready.”
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