After many years of patient waiting for a Seattle NHL hockey team, the Seattle Kraken began their preseason on September 26th, winning four out of six of their preseason games. On Tuesday, October 12th, they made their regular season debut against The Vegas Golden Knights. The Kraken lost to Vegas, but they did not go down without a fight. Seattle worked together as a strong and resilient team and scored three goals, losing only by one. Ryan Donato made the first-ever Kraken goal, followed by two more from Jared McCann and Morgan Geekie.

Being the first game of the season and a new team, the Kraken seemed anxious at the start. At first, the team struggled a bit defensively and did not slide back to the middle of the ice when Vegas was attacking. On the offensive side of things, the team moved to the outsides, which enabled Vegas to shut Seattle down. Hockey superfan and Seattle Prep Assistant to Student Life Melissa White remarked that “We needed to be able to drive the middle a little more and challenge Lehner (VGK Goalie) a bit more.” While the Kraken did not win, every viewer, could see the Kraken’s ambition and fight, no matter if they understood hockey or not.

While White was watching the game Tuesday night, she remarked that Captain Mark Giordano, a starting defenseman, has impeccable hockey IQ. “It takes a special type of athlete with amazing game sense to be able to do all that [he does]. I knew he was good but to watch him constantly be in the right place at the right time and read plays is everything you want in a defenseman.”

With every puzzle, it must be switched around a few times before all the pieces fit together. That is exactly what the Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol did. On Thursday, October 14th, the Kraken defeated the Nashville Predators 4-3. Two of these goals were contributed by the offensive combination of Brandon Tanev, Geekie, and Donato. While the offensive players were able to make their way up the ice, defensively they also needed to drop, to support better, and to keep the middle strong.

As the team’s chemistry gets better and better, tough games against The Vegas Golden Knights and The Colorado Avalanche will be exciting games for the West Coast Conference. For the Eastern Conference, White thinks that “the Boston Bruins and the Washington Capitals will be tough teams to face” because “Boston has an in-your-face style of play and doesn’t stray away from playing their game” and “Ovechkin, on the Caps [Washington Capitals], doesn’t seem to ever stop scoring.”

The Kraken have shown they have a strong and hard-working team. Seattle’s first hockey team may have a short past, but the Kraken has a long and exciting future to come!