Kraken will 'hear the roar' from fans in Game 3 against Avalanche

SEATTLE -- The Seattle Kraken will unveil a new pregame show Saturday for their first home game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The energy will build, as it has since 32,000 people made season-ticket deposits in about a day on March 1, 2018, when there was no promise of a team, let alone the playoffs.

When the players burst onto the ice to play the Colorado Avalanche in Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round at Climate Pledge Arena (10 p.m. ET; TBS, SN, TVAS, ROOT-NW, ALT), the sound is sure to be deafening. In their second season as an NHL expansion team, the Kraken are tied in a best-of-7 series with the defending Stanley Cup champions.
"Seattle fans are renowned," Kraken president and CEO Tod Leiweke said. "Our fans are already renowned around the NHL. The best part of Saturday night is going to be to hear that roar, because there is a true love affair between this team and our fans. It's a thing of great wonderment for me."
This will be another memorable moment in a long journey, a reward for the fans who took a leap of faith, persevered through a pandemic, stuck with the Kraken through a trying first season and have turned Seattle into a dynamic new NHL market.
RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Kraken series coverage]
Seattle became the first city in the United States to win the Stanley Cup when the Seattle Metropolitans of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association defeated the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey Association in 1917, just before the NHL was founded.
The Metropolitans played the Canadiens for the Cup again in 1919, after the Canadiens had joined the NHL. The series was played entirely in Seattle and ended in a 2-2-1 tie due to the Spanish flu.
Seattle hasn't had a team play an NHL team in the playoffs on home ice since. The Metropolitans played the original Ottawa Senators for the Cup in 1920, but the first three games of the five-game series were played in Ottawa, the last two in Toronto.
"This is the first Stanley Cup playoff game that we've had in Seattle since World War I, right?" Kraken radio broadcaster Everett Fitzhugh said. "When you think about it, it's been 104 years. It's been a very long time."
Seattle has had a series of professional and junior hockey teams over the past century, but it never had an NHL team until now. After the success of the season-ticket drive, the League granted Seattle an expansion franchise Dec. 4, 2018.
The historic roof of the old KeyArena was detached, the arena underneath was demolished, a new arena was built, and the historic roof was reattached, with much of the work done during the COVID-19 pandemic. The result was the best of both worlds, a modern arena with soul near the Space Needle.
The team created a brand with a name, logo and colors that connected to the city, and when the team took the ice for the first time for training camp before last season, it did so in the Kraken Community Iceplex, a new, three-sheet practice facility in the city intended to serve the community and grow the game.
The Kraken finished 30th in the NHL in their first season, but they made the playoffs in their second season by setting NHL records for improvement in wins (19) and points (40) from Year 1 to Year 2. They have gone from a new team worth checking out to a legit team worth following closely. The crowd has become more engaged in games, not watching passively, but cheering and booing actively.
"Seattle, Washington, the [Pacific Northwest], we were already a hockey market, but now we're becoming an NHL market," Fitzhugh said. "It has been really cool to see that transition. You now have fans who are just as dialed in as your Colorado fans are, as fans of your more established teams are."
Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn is from Mississauga, Ontario, and spends his summers in Toronto. He's used to Toronto Maple Leafs gear at home. Now he sees Kraken gear in Seattle.
"Everywhere you go, you always see the license plates and the stickers and the flags and the T-shirts and the hats," Dunn said. "I think everyone's just kind of on board and giving us the most support they can."
Opposing teams enjoy the energy, even if they don't enjoy playing against the Kraken. The Avalanche defeated the Kraken 2-1 in a shootout in their last visit to Climate Pledge Arena on Jan. 21.
"Fun atmosphere, a great hockey town," Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews said. "I think most us in the League are happy that there's a team in Seattle. The fan base has been great. It's great for everyone to have a franchise like that that comes in and supports the game that we love so much."
Leiweke always brings it back to the fans. This about them. This is for them.
"I'll go outside the arena, and I'll watch people come in with absolute joy and hope and excitement on their faces," Leiweke said. "What a wonderful thing, especially after everything we've been through.
"As a community, as a nation, we've faced trials and tribulations these last four or five years, just since we started this. When you look at what this country has been through from a social standpoint, a global pandemic, these moments mean even more, and it's going to be a heck of a moment."