On the Road to Season Start

When Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena opened in 1995, its inaugural event was a sellout hockey game (11,400 fans) between the San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks, two then-very-far-in-the future NHL Pacific division rivals of the Kraken.
The second and next NHL preseason game at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena will be the Kraken's first-ever preseason game, Sept. 26, and the visitors will again be the Vancouver Canucks.

The Kraken announced the inaugural preseason schedule Friday. Two more home games feature the Kraken hosting the Edmonton Oilers Oct. 1 at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett and facing the Calgary Flames Oct. 2 further south in Kent at the accesso ShoWare Center.
Seattle with play road games against the same three clubs at their respective NHL arenas: Vancouver (Sept. 28, Rogers Place), Calgary (Sept. 29, Scotiabank Saddledome) and Vancouver (Oct. 5, Rogers Arena).
All of the Kraken's 2021-22 regular season games will be played at Climate Pledge Arena. The full NHL schedule, including Kraken home and away games, will be announced soon.
"The arena is on track to open mid-October for our inaugural regular season game," said Tod Leiweke, Kraken CEO, "but we have made the decision to play our three inaugural preseason games at three outstanding local arenas ... We couldn't be more excited for these games and then to open Climate Pledge Arena."
Leiweke praised the workers who have carried on despite a COVID-19 pandemic that threatened to shut down Climate Pledge Arena -- or at the very least delay its completion by months -- before general contractor Mortenson and Oak View Group led a coalition to devise health and safety protocols since adapted by all construction sites across Washington.
Along with keeping an overwhelming majority of workers on-site daily, the project's leaders have faced any number of pandemic-related developments ranging from shipping delays to rising prices of building materials to reinventing how ironworkers kept proper social distance while performing critical structural work.
Climate Pledge Arena opening in mid-October is in many ways the Kraken's first win. Leiweke said staging preseason games in three Western Hockey League arenas "gives us an opportunity to celebrate hockey across our region and grow this beautiful game."
"These games represent the opportunity to see our roster come together for the first time outside of training camp," said Ron Francis, Kraken general manager. "It will be an honor to play them in hockey communities across the state. I know our players will be excited."
Despite the Vancouver's relative proximity to Spokane, the "home" team back on that September 1995 night was San Jose. The city of Spokane reached agreement with the Sharks to play a preseason game for the hockey-mad locals plus welcome back two NHLers, Ray Whitney and Pat Falloon, who in 1991 led the Western Hockey League Spokane Chiefs to win the hallowed Memorial Cup, the championship trophy of juniors hockey in North America.
Teammates Whitney and Falloon were drafted by the Sharks that summer never to return to the WHL club-not a surprise when you look at their stat lines for Spokane during the 1990-91 season: Whitney scored 67 goals with 118 assists for 185 total points in 72 games. Falloon added 64 goals and 74 assists for 138 points in 61 games.
Four years later, the NHLers (Whitney played 22 seasons, Falloon nine) were the extra-special guests at Veterans Memorial Arena's opening night with the two skating around the ice with spotlights and Thin Lizzy's "The Boys are Back in Town." The noise was deafening.
"We are honored to be able to host a Seattle Kraken preseason game," said Mark Miles, president of the Spokane Chiefs. "The event will be a great opportunity for fans in Eastern Washington to see the Kraken play."
The WHL home arenas of the Everett Silvertips and Seattle Thunderbirds (in Kent) have their own histories of opening nights and notable players who went on to star in the NHL.
The Angel of the Winds Arena hosted the Arizona Coyotes and Tampa Bay Lightning for a 2009 preseason game in Everett with NHLer and former Tips star Peter Mueller playing on that Coyotes squad. Mueller's 160 NHL points are the most ever among Everett skaters, while ex-Silvertips goalie Carter Hart, 22, will be looking to have a bounce-back year in net for the Philadelphia Flyers after a debuting as a 20-year-old with two stellar NHL seasons).
"It's an amazing testimony to the growth of hockey in the Pacific Northwest that the Seattle Kraken have quickly unified the passion of our fan base and those of fellow WHL franchises for this incredible opportunity," said Zoran Rajcic, Silvertips and Consolidated Sports Holdings chief operating officer.
The Thunderbirds won the 2017 WHL championship at accesso ShoWare Center, eight years after the arena opened in 2009. Mathew Barzal starred for the T-Birds and was named WHL playoffs MVP. He played two games for the New York Islanders that spring and won the Calder Trophy as NHL Rookie of the Year for the 2017-18 season. He and his Islanders teammates have reached the NHL semifinals that last two years.
"We are already partners with the Kraken," said Colin Campbell, president of the Seattle Thunderbirds. "Our organizations are committed to developing local hockey players and helping them succeed at the highest levels of the game ... to host this game in our home arena is an honor."
Tickets for each game will be sold by the individual WHL teams. All three teams plan to provide an opportunity for their season ticket holders to purchase tickets for the Kraken preseason games. Spokane will extend the offer to Tri-City Americans fans.
The Seattle Kraken will donate a portion of ticket revenue to One Roof Foundation to support efforts to grow the game. The Kraken is working with the Thunderbirds, the Silvertips, and the Chiefs, along with the Tri-City Americans and the Portland Winterhawks to support grassroots hockey across the state.
Tickets will go on sale at 12 noon, July 16 via
ticketmaster.com
for Everett,
seattlethunderbirds.com
for Kent and
ticketswest.com
for Spokane.
Seattle Kraken season ticket members whose packages previously included preseason games at Climate Pledge Arena will be offered an account credit.