Seattle launched to AHL’s Firebirds in first “house” sport
Maile Zahand made her means from her house in Issaquah, Washington, to Kraken Neighborhood Iceplex in Seattle on Friday to catch the Coachella Valley Firebirds in motion. She knew lots of the gamers by title and even made an indication that she held up in assist of Firebirds goalkeeper Joey Daccord.
Zahand did not comply with skilled hockey till the Seattle Kraken started enjoying within the NHL final 12 months, and on Friday along with her children, she wore a Firebirds’ hat and jersey in assist of the Kraken’s American Hockey League affiliate. She now calls herself a “hockey mother.”
“We simply love to look at hockey,” stated Zahand, 46. “And being Kraken followers, a variety of us in Seattle are following the Firebirds.”
Zahand was amongst a crowd of greater than 500 that crowded into the year-old Kraken Neighborhood Iceplex, the NHL workforce’s headquarters, on Friday afternoon because the puck dropped in what is going to go down because the Coachella Valley Firebirds’ first official “house” sport in opposition to the Abbotsford Canucks, in Seattle.
Friday’s sport, which was a non-public occasion for buyers, sponsors and choose season tickets holders, marked the primary time in workforce historical past that the Firebirds have hosted a sport. The Firebirds gained their first two video games of the season on the highway on the Calgary Wranglers on Oct. 16 and 17.
Following a scoreless first interval, the Firebirds took the lead within the second earlier than permitting a pair of energy play objectives and in the end falling, 4-3, for their first loss as a company.
Alexander True scored the primary and third objectives for the Firebirds and Jesper Froden scored the second. The workforce is now 2-1 on the season.
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“The power within the constructing was nice,” Firebirds head coach Dan Bylsma stated. “It is a small constructing, it is obtained a tin roof, so any noise is a loud noise in right here. It was type of an old-time barn feeling, having followers in right here cheering in our path. There was a ton of power.”
The Firebirds will host their first sport within the Coachella Valley on the newly constructed half-billion-dollar Acrisure Area on Dec. 18 versus the Tucson Roadrunners. The Firebirds, the thirty second and latest franchise within the American Hockey League, are scheduled to play their first 22 video games away from their house area.
Daccord, the Firebirds goalie, stated that there is an pleasure amongst gamers to get to the Coachella Valley and start enjoying in entrance of native Firebirds’ followers.
“Whereas we’re attempting to do our greatest to remain centered on the duty at hand, taking issues one sport at a time,” Daccord stated, “I believe it is all at the back of our minds that we will be in a fairly unimaginable place and have a fairly unimaginable alternative. Whereas we’re specializing in the now, it is positively at the back of our minds.”
Friday’s crowd, decked out in Firebirds hats, jerseys, shirts and hoodies, attended a pre-game meal of shrimp, oysters, salad, pizza and wings at 32 Bar & Grill, the restaurant that overlooks the primary rink at Kraken Neighborhood Iceplex.
Fuego, the Firebirds’ mascot, and Buoy, the Kraken mascot, additionally have been current to hang around with and entertain the group.
Following that occasion, a lot of the group made its means down a staircase and onto bleachers the place Tod Leiweke, the president of the Kraken, and his brother, Tim Leiweke, the principal proprietor of the Firebirds together with the Kraken, walked onto a purple carpet to the center of the ice and spoke a number of phrases.
“Tonight is one other step in our journey,” Tod Leiweke stated. “Simply you wait till this workforce is in probably the most spectacular area within the Coachella Valley.”
Tim Leiweke, who introduced his grandson onto the ice, then addressed the group.
“On Dec. 14, we’ll have our first live performance,” Leiweke stated. “Then, 4 days later, we’ll have our first Firebirds sport. We’re very excited.”
Each Leiwekes then joined the group within the bleachers for the sport. Tim Leiweke sat together with his grandson, the oldest little one of Leiweke’s daughter, Francesca, and her husband, Troy Bodie, the director of hockey operations for the Firebirds. Tod Leiweke sat with NFL linebacker Bobby Wagner of the Los Angeles Rams, a Kraken investor. The Rams are on a bye this week.
The sport in opposition to Abbotsford is the primary of 4 house video games the Firebirds are internet hosting in Washington. The second, on Sunday, can also be in opposition to Abbotsford and will probably be held at Local weather Pledge Area in downtown Seattle. The third will probably be on Oct. 28 in opposition to Calgary at Angel of The Winds Area in Everett — about 25 miles north of Seattle. The fourth sport in Washington, additionally versus Calgary, is slated for Kraken Neighborhood Iceplex on Oct. 29.
The following two video games are open to the general public and the final sport in Washington is one other personal occasion for sponsors, buyers and season ticket holders.
Zahand, whose kids play within the Jr Kraken Youth Hockey Affiliation, stated that she’ll be in any respect three of the Firebirds’ remaining video games in Washington. She stated she can also be amongst a number of ladies who’re part of the Girls of the Kraken group who plan to ebook flights to Palm Springs this winter to look at the Firebirds play.
She stated that she’s among the many many in Seattle who caught “hockey fever” and he or she’s assured that the identical will occur for a lot of within the Coachella Valley.
“As soon as folks go to at least one sport,” she stated, “they will be hooked. Hockey is a lot extra enjoyable in individual than on TV.
“Individuals down there are going to adore it. It is enjoyable!”
Andrew John covers sports activities for The Desert Solar and the USA As we speak Community. E-mail him at andrew.john@desertsun.com and discover him on Twitter at @Andrew_L_John.
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