Monday, December 6

The Inaugural Season: My First Kraken game vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

Back in August, my geocaching friends Nikki and Antoine contacted me, through Instagram, to ask if I was interested in going to a Kraken game in their upcoming inaugural season.  I didn't hesitate.  I said yes!  They knew I was a being Pittsburgh Penguin fan and they set aside tickets for me to go to that game.  They shared season tickets with some of their friends and they knew they couldn't go to all of them.  I thanked them profusely and Antione told me he would keep in touch as he got more information.

I was so excited that I called Mom at lunchtime that day to tell her we were going to the Penguins/Kraken game in December.  She was like, how did you pull that off?  I told her that I have people.  She said she would put in the time before someone nabs that day.  I blocked off part of that day and all of the next day since I knew we would be getting home late and didn't really want to work.  

Throughout the rest of the summer and into the fall, Antoine kept me in the loop of when he got the tickets and how to go about the electronic transfer and payment.  I told him I was ready to do it when he had everything squared away.  He said he would keep me posted as he knew.  I thanked him again for thinking of me.  

During October and part of November I was dog sitting for Erika, Zach and my friend Alicia.  I made over $450 watching dogs and decided I was going to use the money to purchase Kraken jerseys for Ben and I for Christmas.    

The middle of November, after one of my appointments on the west side, I stopped by the mall so I could check on Kraken jersey prices.  I was not a fan of the prices online so I thought I would check in person.  I went to Dick's Sporting Goods and was not happy with the selection they had.  I went to the Seattle Team Store and saw they had what I was looking for, so I talked to the guy on shift, and he hooked me up with what I needed.  I got me a custom-made Tanev jersey and a blank back jersey for Ben.  I got them cheaper than I would have online because the inventory was messed up.  I got my jersey for $120 instead of $160.  Ben's was more expensive because his was the Adidas jersey instead of the Fanatics version since mine had to have the patches added on site.  It really didn't matter because I had saved this money specifically for these jerseys and I saved $40 and got to physically take them home with me.

I bought the inaugural patches earlier this fall and paid Grandma to sew them on.  I told her I needed the jerseys back before Christmas.

Antoine got a hold of me again, in early November, to let me know that he figured out the transfer information and talked about how to get them money so he could transfer me the tickets.  He let me know the total amount, that we were going through Venmo (so I had to get a Venmo account) and he will transfer the tickets to my Ticketmaster account.  I just had to get the other half of the money from Mom.  Mom was taking her sweet time, so I ended up paying Nikki the day after Thanksgiving, so no one had to wait any longer.  She let us know that we had to download an app so going through security and through the ticket line would be easy with the Covid protocols.

A few days after, I told Mom which apps she needed for the game, to prove we've been vaccinated, so we could get into Climate Pledge Arena easily.  We got it all squared away with being able to access the tickets from my phone since everything is touchless now. 

We had to wait for December 6th, and I was really excited.  I've never been to an inaugural season of anything before so going to a game was going to be very memorable.  

The day finally came, and I got up, did my work and then logged off at 2.  Mom was on her way over to the house so we could leave as soon as we could.  I wasn't sure how the traffic to Seattle would be on a Monday.  I gathered all the stuff I was going to bring and decided which Crosby jersey I was going to wear.  I went with the newest one from the Stadium Series that was played back in February 2019.  Ben got it for me as a gift for Christmas last year.  I thought it needed a win since my other Crosby jersey has two wins.  I asked Mom if she was going to wear her jersey and she said she would probably wear her Kraken stuff.  I wore both my Kraken hat and my Crosby jersey.

Mom got here just after 2, we loaded up the Escape and headed up I-5 to Seattle.  Surprisingly, there wasn't a lot of traffic and we got to the Seattle Center around 3:30.  Mom and I enjoy getting places early so we can park, walk around and enjoy our visit without feeling rushed.  Since we were at the Seattle Center so early, we had the entire parking lot off of 5th Avenue almost to ourselves.  I went and paid for parking for stall #68.  It was only $22 bucks for 3-10 hours of parking, which wasn't bad since we were going to be here for at least 7 hours.

I asked Mom what she wanted to do first, so we walked to the Armory, used the restroom and then went upstairs to the food court.  I figured we would eat here to save some money.  I've seen the outrageous prices for food and drink inside of Climate Pledge Arena.  I saw that the Kraken PR group were setting up for some pregame activities near the stage of the Armory.  I asked Mom what kind of food she wanted, and she said Mod Pizza was fine.  We stood in line, ordered our food and when we got to the register, the cashier actually asked me for proof of vaccination, which I didn't think they would actually do, but they did.  I brought my paper card version, just in case I needed it, and presented it to her.  I paid and waited for them to call my name to pick up my little box of pizza. 

My name was called so I grabbed my pizza and went to find a table while Mom waited for hers.  She came out a few minutes later with her little box of pizza.  I wanted to sit near the Christmas tree and found some empty tables nearby.  We ate, people watched and were entertained by the pregame activities.  We sat there for about an hour since we had a bunch of time to kill before they opened the gates at 5.  There were a lot of Penguin fans, including Mom and myself.





We decided we were done being in the Armory and wanted to walk around outside.  We threw away our trash, got a selfie with the Christmas tree and went outside.  Mom saw the lights when we originally got here and wanted to see what it was about.  I checked it out on my phone, and it was called Winterfest.  Throughout the five weeks of entertainment, there are performances on the Armory stage, a train village and many displays of lights around the center.  

We saw that the lights made a circle and decided to start near the fountain and work our way around towards Chihuly Gardens, near the Space Needle.  We walked through the light display on the trees slowly.  It was fun doing something away from home.  We really haven't gotten to do a lot this fall and winter because we've been taking care of family stuff.






We walked past Climate Pledge and around the corner to where the Chihuly Gardens Museum was.  We could see the Space Needle, but it wasn't lit up like it usually was at night.  We wondered why.  We took a few pictures and checked to see if it was time to go stand in line yet.  We walked slowly back towards the arena and admired how nice the renovation of Key Arena looked.  I was trying to remember the last time I was here. I knew it was for a Storm game with Shauna...however long ago that was.



We found the line we were supposed to be in and waited until the doors opened.  We were approached by a couple from Pittsburgh (they saw my Crosby jersey) and they were super excited to be in Seattle to watch a Penguins game from the new arena.  The lady is a huge Tanev fan.  They are trying to go to a Penguins game in every NHL arena and love casinos.  They were super stoked about how many casinos we had here.  They found out they had to go to a different gate because she had a purse to be checked.  We didn't have to because we had our clear see-through bag with us.  They told us to enjoy the game and walked to the other gate.  I turned to Mom, we must have one of those faces because no matter where I go, strangers talk to us.  It's not the first nor the last time this will happen to us.

The line started to move, we went through security, our app on our phone was checked to make sure we complied with Covid protocol, and I scanned our tickets with the scanner.  Everything was literally touchless.  We went inside and weren't sure where to go since we haven't been here since the renovation.  We saw The Lair, the team store and thought it would be fun to go in until we saw the huge line.  We just decided to go find our seats instead.  

The arena was so clean, so new, so green, it was truly immaculate.  It even smelled new.  I couldn't believe I was going to an NHL game in Seattle to see a team I've been rooting for since 2009.  Mom and I took several pictures while we made our way to our seats.  I was anxious to see the vantage point of where these seats were.

Mom and I were impressed of the view that we had.  We got settled in and took in the ambiance for a while.  The arena started to fill in and there were a lot of Penguin fans in the building.  It got closer to game time so both teams came out in their warmups and started their pregame routine.  I watched one of the emcee's ask Alexa over the microphone to start the Kraken warm up music playlist.  Is this place completely run by technology?  It was so great to finally be able to go to sporting events again.  Since Covid shut down the world, I've been to a Mariner and now a Kraken/Penguins game.  I didn't get to go to any sporting events in 2020.



We continued watching the pregame warmups and then the starting line ups.  As we got closer to game time, Climate Pledge was at full capacity, and you could feel the energy.  The National Anthem played, and I met one of Antoine's friends who was sitting to the right of me with an empty seat between us.  The first period started and right away you could tell the Penguins were better than the Kraken.  It was like watching a varsity team vs a JV team.  The Penguins have been a team for over 60 years and the Kraken have been a team for a few months.  They have the history; they have the statistics, and they have some future hall of fame players.  It was clearly one sided.  

Antoine came down from his other seats he shares with the group of friends and sat in the seat right next to me and his friend.  We chatted throughout the game about hockey, geocaching and his son.  I haven't seen him or Nikki in a long time.  I think it was when Bev and I drove to Issaquah for that holiday event back in January 2019.

Jeff Carter broke it open scoring 1:47 into the game and Crosby followed with his fourth goal at 4:42 by finishing a shot from the blue line from Jake Guentzel.  Danton Heinen scored on a wrist shot moments later to leave the expansion Kraken stunned.  The Kraken were on defense most of the game.  They barley could get an offense going.  After the 3-0 start by the Pens, the Kraken goal tender, Phillip Grubauer, was pulled and replaced by Joey Daccord.  It was weird rooting for both teams but also fun.  No matter how this game ended, I would win either way.

During the first intermission, we all stayed put in our seats and watched the intermission entertainment being held on center ice.  I chatted with Antoine, and he explained to me about the arrangement with him and his friends as season ticket holder.  He also said if I ever wanted to go to another one just let him know.   He added, every time the Penguins are in town, he said he would save those tickets for me if I was able to go. 

The second period started and there was a lot of back and forth and finally Jordan Eberle scored his 12th goal of the season early in the second period (3:43), making it 3-1, but the rest of the period was a lackluster performance by the Kraken.  At least we weren't going to be shut out.  Jake Guentzel added to the Penguins score making it 4-1 followed by a quick one before the end of the period by another goal by Carter.  The end of the period the Kraken trailed 5-1 to the Penguins.  We sat in our seats again through second intermission.  There really wasn't any reason to get up.

The third and final period started and was pretty uneventful until Guentzel scored his second goal of the night pretty much sealed the game about halfway through the period.  There were times the Kraken had chances to score and they either dinged them off the crossbar or someone was out of position and could have snuck one in.  The Kraken's performance was pretty flat that night, but they had been one of the hottest teams in the NHL.  Seattle has won five of seven and earned 11 points during that stretch but was handed its worst home loss of the season, 6-1 to the Penguins.


I thanked Antoine again for thinking of us and he said anytime.  I hope we get to see him and Nikki soon at a geocaching event.  He and his friend headed up the stairs.  Mom and I sat there for a few minutes before we made our way back to the Escape.  This experience was awesome, and I am glad one of my teams won. 

We walked up the stairs and wanted to go inside of The Lair to see what kinds of stuff they had.  I really wanted one of those souvenir pucks I saw on the internet the other day and thought that the team store sold them.  I didn't find one and decided I would check the internet again to see if I could find one for Mom and I.  We really didn't need anything since most of my Kraken stuff came from Costco...which was way cheaper than the stuff they sold here.

We wanted to see the Climate Pledge Arena Living Wall before we left.  I had no idea where it was, so I had to check the signs to see where it was.  Luckily, we didn't have to wander around all that much since it was right around the corner.  It was pretty amazing, so we looked at it and took some pictures.  This is the only one of its kind at any NHL arena.  It features 27 different plant species and is taken care of by a hired team of horticulturists.  It was awesome!



We left the arena and went out towards the parking lot through the Seattle Center.  Most of the people had left and it wasn't that hard to get back onto the road to make our way to I-5 South on Mercer.  Traffic wasn't that bad so getting onto I-5 wasn't too terrible like it is after Mariner and Seahawk games.

Mom closed her eyes for a while as I drove us back to my house.  It was pretty uneventful, but it was Monday night after all.  We got to my house just after 11 p.m. and I was so glad I didn't have to go to work the next day.  Mom hopped into her Expedition and went home.  I told her when she got home to text or call me, so I know she got there safely.  She, unfortunately, had to go to work the next day.  She called and told me she got home safely.

**I did manage to find the pucks I was looking for.  The website was sold out of them for a while and then brought them back.  I ordered Mom and I one and they came on January 4, 2022.  They are well made and a great souvenir.** 

Next Adventure:  Erika's Birthday

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