The moment has arrived:
The first home game day in Seattle professional history since 1975, and the first time a team here can take home ice competing for a Stanley Cup since the 1920’s is now reality. Dreams have come true, Climate Pledge Arena is real, and the Seattle Kraken will bring 17,000 souls into a memory-making environment which opened with morning skate and goaltender Joey Daccord first on the new ice surface, ending with Mark Giordano, Yanni Gourde, Vince Dunn, and Dave Hakstol bright eyed and in awe of what they’re about to step into.
Notes:
-Virtually no changes from Friday’s practice day, when “business time” became top priority for morning skate: Ryan Donato, Haydn Fleury, and Will Borgen were the only three subtracted from general line rushes, an indication the rest of the group (as seen below will be in tonight).
-That leads us to Calle Jarnkrok: welcome to the Kraken, finally. The former Nashville Predator will make his debut after spending the first five-games in COVID-19 protocol, skating this morning Jaden Schwartz and Yanni Gourde.
-That also leads us to Morgan Geekie: in a regular-colored jersey, taking line rushes with Brandon Tanev on the left wing, and Joonas Donskoi on the right wing.
-Philipp Grubauer was the first to leave the ice, giving the indication it’s his net when game time hits.
-For the first home game ever in Kraken history, the pomp and circumstance to celebrate the occasion will be extremely production oriented.We shared last night about information learned about possible goal horn and goal song elements.Ryan Clark of The Athletic confirmed it this afternoon: your winner if you guessed right: “Lithium” by Nirvana as the goal song, while the Washington State Ferry will blast its sound as the goal horn.
-A did you know: tonight will mark the first ever game in NHL history (regular season) featuring two NHL teams in the state of Washington.
-Another did you know - the last time an NHL team played an opponent from the state of Washington: 102 years ago, when the influenza epidemic disrupted the Stanley Cup Final between the Seattle Metropolitans and Montreal Canadiens.
-Broadcast notes: we’ll be on air at 6:00pm with special “opening night” extended coverage, and the guest list is growing. If you’re in the booth, hang out for awhile with us by Section 19 and the Coors Light Lounge (behind the net): Kraken investor Chris Ackerley, general manager Ron Francis and TV play-by-play voice John Forslund with hop on.
-Post-game show: now an hour long each home game: Everett Fitzhugh (radio play-by-play) will join us.
-Cheers to the debut tonight to new raido color analyst Dave Tomlinson!
TONIGHT’S EXPECTED LINEUP:
FORWARD LINE COMBINATIONS
Schwartz-Gourde-Jarnkrok
McCann-Wennberg-Eberle
Tanev-Geekie-Donskoi
Bastian-Sheahan-Appleton
DEFENSIVE PAIRS:
Giordano-Oleksiak
Lauzon-Larsson
Soucy-Dunn
GOALTENDERS
Grubauer
Daccord
Talk with you this evening on Sports Radio 950 KJR and the Kraken Audio Network.And cast your vote about your hockey background.