Ben has mentioned, since the Kraken became a team, that he wanted to go see a game. Mom and I had gone during our inaugural year to see the Kraken play the Penguins. It was an amazing experience to see the Pittsburgh Penguins play in Seattle against our new home team. We rooted for both teams and the Penguins were victorious!
Mom and I didn't get to go to a Kraken game against the Penguins this year because the game was in October, and we had already booked our trip to New England prior to knowing when that game would be held. Last year it was in December and this year it was in October for some reason. It was a huge bummer to miss it because I have no idea when Crosby was going to call it a career.
About a month ago, Ben and I got to talking about hockey and had expressed interest into going to one this season. I got a hold of Antoine (our season ticket holder) and asked if there were any available tickets on a weekend and he said that he would look into it for us.
He wrote me back just after the Christmas holiday to let us know that tickets were available if we wanted them. I asked Ben if he wanted to go to the Islander game on January 1, and he said yes! I told Antoine that we wanted them and made the trade. We Venmo'd Nikki our money ($220 each) and they sent the tickets to my email. Then Antoine called me to make sure I got them, and we chatted a few minutes about hockey and geocaching.
Ben was really excited. I made sure I knew where all of our Kraken gear was. We had collected sweatshirts, hats, scarfs and jerseys since our team was announced back in 2020. We were pretty excited that we finally had an NHL team in Seattle. However, DISH Network and Root Sports no longer like each other so we were not able to watch the Kraken (or Mariner) games without paying money to do so. I was very upset that NBC Sports also decided to stop showing hockey games like they used to for free. Now everything is on ESPN+ (subject to blackout) or maybe TNT if you're lucky. Sometimes it is aired on the NHL Network as well. So, we really weren't up to speed on how our team was actually doing because we gotta look it up on our phone or watch Sportscenter to check if we won or not.
I had gone to a Seahawk game with Mom in December because Dad's friend Randy had season tickets and could not go. He gave them to Dad and Dad gave them to Mom. Mom asked me if I wanted to go and of course I wanted to go. Well, Randy had another set of tickets for New Year's Day and asked if we wanted to go again. I told Mom I couldn't because Ben and I were going to the Kraken game, and I told her to take Doug instead. Doug needed to do something fun.
That day, after being up late) we got up around 10:30, ate a quick breakfast, Ben had some cereal and I had some grapes, yogurt and half a blueberry bagel while I watched the only football game being played on TV that morning. I slowly got ready as it approached time to go. I made sure we had everything we needed in our clear plastic Seahawk bag, and I got Ben motivated to get off his game and get ready. This was the first time we wore our Kraken jerseys since I bought them November 2021. They've been sitting in our room for over a year, waiting to be worn at a game.
We jumped into the Escape and headed up I-5 to the Angle Lake parking garage so we could get on the train. I didn't want to deal with traffic or trying to find a parking spot. We got to Angle Lake pretty quickly because everyone was already at the Seahawks game or hungover from the night before. No traffic on I-5 was wonderful!!
They were doing construction just north of Federal Way along I-5 and they took some signs down so I was looking for the Angle Lake sign, but it was gone. Luckily, I had Ben look up what exit I needed before we drove past it. By the time I realized it, it was literally the next exit, lol.
We found a place to park on the third level of the parking garage, the place was full because of the Seahawk game. We purchased our round-trip train ticket to the Westlake Center and off we went. We didn't have to wait long since our train was right there. We jumped on and made our way north to our stop.
We were going to be on the train for a bit, with 13 stops or so in between, so I connected my phone to the Seahawks game. We watched the end of the first quarter and part of the second quarter as we rode to our destination. We were playing the Jets and we needed this win to put us into the playoffs. I texted Mom when we got to the stadium stop to let her know we were right outside riding the rails. She responded sparsely. She did say that Doug was having a good time, which was good. He really needed to do something fun after the year he's had.
We got off at Westlake Center and Ben wanted to walk around to work up an appetite. I checked my caching app to see fi there was a cache nearby and there was, Midtown Dump (GC7VZXR). We needed it for the 2023 souvenir. We walked a couple of blocks to the cache, and it was behind a bank in the parking lot near a dumpster. We found it but the lid was missing, the logbook was mush so therefore, it was unsignable. We took a picture of it to prove we were there and put it back where we found it. We walked back towards Westlake Center and the Monorail.
We walked up the three flights of stairs and went inside. A guy who worked for the building or the Monorail told us that if we were going to the game, our transportation was free (trains, busses and the Monorail). We didn't know and had already paid for our round-trip train ticket. He helped us set it up and got on the Monorail for free...all we needed was our login information for Ticketmaster. What a cool deal! We waited a few minutes for the Monorail to arrive, got on and headed to the Seattle Center.
It took less than five minutes to get from Westlake Center to the Seattle Center Armory. We went inside and used the restroom. I mostly wanted to so I could wash my hands before we ate something. But before we did, we went outside and I led Ben to one of the caches I've been to like three times since I found it back in 2019, World Wide Web (GC7VTN3). He found it, signed the log and put it back. We walked around so he could do some of the Adventure Labs I did in August. I took a few pictures of the Space Needle and then we headed back inside to grab some food before the game.
Once we ordered we found a table to sit at and watched the rest of the Seahawk game while we waited for our food to come out. Ben ordered his two beers from the beer garden and surprisingly, our food came out quicker than we anticipated. We ate our chicken burgers, fries and watched the Seahawks beat the Jets 23-6.
It was a nice bounce back after a three-game skid. I was glad Mom and Doug went to a good game unlike the one we went to about a month prior. We finished up our food, went into the mini team store to browse for a few minutes and then decided it was time to go over to Climate Pledge.
We got some photos, pulled up the tickets on my phone and stood in one of the many lines. Ben was grinning from ear to ear. We went through security, got our tickets scanned and walked to our seats. I was still impressed with how clean and new the place looked. Ben was giddy the entire time. He was so excited to go to a Kraken game.
He was floored when he saw where our seats were. They were so close! We took a few pictures and enjoyed watching pregame warmups. This would be my first time watching the NY Islanders in person. I was really hoping we'd beat them because they were one of the rivals to my other team I root for, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The hype video they played at the beginning of the game was off the charts! They sure had me hooked! Last time I was here we didn't have a mascot yet. Buoy was revealed on October 1, 2022, prior to a preseason gave against the Vancouver Canucks. He is a mythical troll and said to be the nephew of the Freemont Troll under the Aurora Bridge. Everyone was in outrage stating that we missed a huge opportunity. The team opted to stay away from the octopus because the wanted to avoid redundancy to the Detroit Red Wings mascot, Al the Octopus.
Seriously, Ben was on cloud nine. He couldn't wait for the game to start.
As soon as the game began and the faceoff was taken, I could already tell the difference in the confidence and competitiveness of the Kraken compared to last season. They were sharper, communicated better, clicked as a team and were running triangles and circles around the Islanders. This could be the year we make the playoffs, if we continue playing well, after finishing last in our division during the previous season.
We sat on the edge of our seats while the action was right in front of us. There were a couple of good shots, but none seemed to want to go in. You could hear the roar of the crowd as we got closer and closer to that puck hitting the back of the net. Finally, after 9:53 seconds into the game, Adam Larsson finally put us on the board. The horn blared and everyone cheered! "Let's Go Kraken!"
There was more back and forth for about 10 more minutes and just before the end of the first period, the Islanders, Matthew Barzel, got lucky and put one past our goaltender, Martin Jones. We were hoping that would be the only goal they got the rest of the night. The first period ended, and we were tied 1-1 at first intermission. Ben and I stayed in our seats.
The second period began and about three minutes in a penalty was called which put us on a two-minute power play. I told Ben that it would be so cool if we scored on our power play. Sure enough, at 3:38 into the period, Eeli Tolvanen scored our second goal, breaking the 1-1 tie. The horn blared and the crowd roared! "Let's Go Kraken!"
It was back and forth again for a while, both teams had some great shots that just wouldn't go in. I was glad they didn't go in for the Islanders but with 13:04 into the second period, Oliver Bjorkstrand added one more to our total! The horn blared once again, the fans were delighted, and high fives were being passed around near where we were sitting. The crowd was definitely amped! "Let's Go Kraken!" We were up 3-1 at the end of the second period.
Ben got up to go get something to drink while I held down the fort. He came back after a while but before the third period began. He said the lines were insane! We shared the water throughout the rest of the game.
Most of the third period was back and forth while Kraken fans desperately hoped that we would hold our lead. I have seen a bunch of NHL games this season so far, not just the Kraken or the Penguins, blow leads really quickly. There were some close almost goals between both teams. We held on and kept playing aggressive. With about two minutes left in the game, the Islanders pulled their goalie to give them an upper hand on offense. The Islanders screwed up and Brandon Tanev, with 45 seconds left in the game, took advantage of the open net and sealed our victory! The horn blared and we grabbed a 4-1 victory!!
Our goalie had 18 saves; we took 35 shots to their 19 and the Islanders won 36 to our 19 faceoffs. It was a great start to the new year and Kraken nation was excited to see how the rest of the year panned out. Hopefully, the Kraken would see themselves in the Stanley Cup Playoffs come April...in their second year as a franchise!
I took Ben to the Climate Pledge plant wall so he could see it. It had grown since I was here last. We got a couple of pictures. Then I wanted to go into The Lair because I know people think Buoy is ugly but I kinda wanted a plush doll. We grabbed on, got in line, paid and took him over to the view of the rink with Kraken win on the TV in the background. I had to convince Ben to smile.
We left Climate Pledge and headed back over to The Armory to get onto the Monorail. Apparently, they close all the doors to The Armory except for one and of course, we went to the wrong one and had to walk all the way around. Lame. The line was long but there were two Monorails going...so we didn't have to wait that long.
We got to Westlake Center and walked a couple blocks to the entrance down to the trains below. We got onto the Angle Lake side and waited about two minutes for our southbound train to arrive.
We hopped on and made our journey south to the Escape. The train ride seemed longer heading back than coming into Seattle for some reason...usually it's the opposite. The train arrived at Angle Lake, we got off and walked to the Escape. We left and stopped at the 7-Eleven across the street for some drinks. It was one of the creepiest 7-Eleven's we've ever been to.
We merged onto I-5 south and drove towards home. There wasn't any traffic, so it didn't take us very long to get home. We drove to Tumwater so I could check on Alicia's dogs while she was out of town visiting family for the holiday. I let the dogs out so they could go potty and checked their food and water. I gave them treats, but them back in their house and got home around 10:30. I got in a shower, ate some chili because I was hungry, followed by some popcorn because it sounded good and worked on my blogs. I logged the cache we found earlier and turned on Sportscenter to watch highlights from our game. We went to bed just after 1ish.
Next Adventure: Bremerton Cache Machine 20th Anniversary Event and Dinner
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