Seattle has a National Hockey League team again after nearly 100 years. Its first NHL team, the Metropolitans, was the first US team to win the Stanley Cup. The current iteration is the Kraken, named after the mythical sea creature. This is a big deal for Seattle. The region has a couple of semi-pro teams, but none of the colleges or universities has a hockey team. The Kraken has been hyped for at least two years, with T-shirt and jersey – I mean, sweater – sales.
As would be expected, most of the Kraken team members are from Canada. Two or three are from Sweden. All of them are NHL veterans. Much to this Cornellian’s chagrin, two of the Kraken went to Harvard. (The Harvard-Cornell hockey game in Ithaca was immortalized in the novel and movie Love Story. It’s been a grudge match for over 50 years.)
Tonight is opening night versus the Golden Knights in Las Vegas. The atmosphere in the rink is more like a Vegas show than a sporting event. At the end of the first period, Las Vegas was ahead 2-0. It could take some time to release the Kraken.
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