Getting Out On The Water And Into The Community 

Maddie Scheutzow was breathing heavily upon exiting her 42-foot-long boat, paddle in hand and silver medal secured.

Scheutzow, a Kraken people and culture specialist, was part of a 22-member crew comprised of the NHL team’s staff and mascot Buoy competing in the “community round” of last weekend’s Dragon Boat Festival in South Lake Union. The event, hosted by the Seattle Flying Dragon Boat Club and sponsored by the Kraken as part of the team’s IGF Outdoor Adventure Series, featured 42 races and entries from across the region as part of Lunar New Year month.

“People often ask what we do in the off-season, and everybody has their answer for that,” Scheutzow said after her Kraken boat finished second of four competitors in its third and final race of the day to take home silver. “But I think that being able to take advantage of these times when we aren’t doing games and being out there in the community is huge.”

As Scheutzow alluded to, winning or medaling in races was secondary to the Kraken’s sponsorship and participation in the second annual festival. Buoy’s presence proved a hit for the hundreds of spectators lining the lakeside, while Kraken Hockey Network host Piper Shaw and radio play-by-play commentator Everett Fitzhugh served as event emcees.

The Kraken had designated tents set up at the lakeside with button making, coloring, a cornhole game and ball hockey as well as prize giveaways of team-branded stickers and sunglasses. The team’s Lunar New Year jersey from its Common Thread series of community events was on display – with one of them auctioned off -- while its designer, artist Shayla Hufana, helped officially open the festival.

Dragon Boating has often been referred to as the world’s oldest team sport; dating back some 2,500 years to parts of China. Various federations have since been established in 89 countries, with international competitions and a recent pitch to the International Olympic Committee for the sport to be included in future Summer Games.

The boats themselves are 42 feet long, five feet wide, weigh 500 pounds and hold 22 people – 20 paddlers with an additional drummer in front and a steerer in back. Some 800 paddlers participated in last weekend’s festival, which featured 38 teams from 19 Dragon Boat clubs hailing primarily from Washington and Oregon, but also two from California and one from Vancouver, BC.

A Dragon Boat was designed by the Kraken in traditional colors and put on display for eventgoers. Hockey Fights Cancer jerseys were also given out to cancer survivor team captains of various boats.

“The Kraken were really generous sponsors of this festival,” said Katie Nishimura, head coach and festival coordinator for the Flying Dragon club, who lauded the NHL team for its “great publicity” in raising event awareness. “It’s really fun to have such an exciting partner. It’s nice to have other sports fans recognizing Dragon Boating, which isn’t super well known. So, hopefully hockey fans can come and try Dragon Boating sometime.”

The festival was the latest activity in the Kraken Outdoor Adventure Series, funded by IGF, where the NHL team meets prospective fans in the mountains and on the waterfront. The first leg was the Crystal Mountain event back in January while the next planned activity is the Downtown Sailing Series in August.

For Nishimura, the festival serves to raise greater awareness of the sport in general as well as the city’s Asian community.

“Dragon Boating is a traditionally Chinese sport, but everybody practices it now – especially in the United States,” Nishimura said. “So, we really wanted to celebrate that. And we wanted to make sure we had a bunch of different Asian performers, too so that everybody could see the diversity and richness of the cultures.”

Nishimura said the sheer number of people paddling in a Dragon Boat is what separates it from other types of rowing events.

“There are 22 people in that boat and in order to do well you have to make sure all 22 people are paddling together,” she said. “And that’s quite a challenge. There’s always a bit of difficulty when you’ve got 22 people who are all a little bit different. But that’s also kind of the fun of it.”

Kraken staffer Scheutzow agreed.

“It’s harder than it looks,” she said.

But she also had the most fun upon leaving the boat for dry land.

“I think people like to see us out in the wild, if you will, or out in the city and beyond the arena extending the brand,” she said. “It’s cool. We’re more than just a hockey team and we are present within the community. And that part feels really good.”