With Seattle making its first-ever visit to Nationwide Arena (and playing just its third game ever), I went to the concourse pregame and wanted to chat with a few fans wearing Kraken sweaters.
There's always excitement over an expansion team, both in the city in which they play and in the sport's fan base in general. That's especially true for a Kraken team whose logo and blue color scheme has led to a buzzing merch sale up to this point.
The first fan I found was Bowling Green, Ohio, native Devon Dohanos, a Pittsburgh Penguins fan who was sporting a white Yanni Gourde jersey.
"I thought they jerseys were cool, so I got one," Dohanos said. "I saw they were playing in Ohio so I am here."
So there was one fan on the "cool merch" list, but across the way, I saw a group of around seven or eight people in Kraken jerseys/shirts, so I figured this had to be a somewhat more Seattle-based group. And I was right, as I chatted with Eric Pettigrew, a former state legislator in Washington who came to Columbus for the game (as well as the Seahawks' Sunday Night Football contest in Pittsburgh).
It helps that Pettigrew has family in Cincinnati -- his daughter's in-laws are from the Queen City -- and he "loves the entire state" of Ohio. It was an easy trip, then, to see his first-ever Kraken game, and the original native of Los Angeles also works for the team.
"I've been a hockey fan my entire life," Pettigrew said. "I grew up an LA Kings fan. For years, I was trying to convince everyone to bring hockey to Seattle. Everybody was focused on baseball and football, so when the Leiwekes finally made the decision to come up to Seattle, I'm telling you, I was all over it."
There was no shortage of Seattle gear in the arena, and I'd expect that to be the case as we go. So shout out to the visiting fans, who at least got one point for their troubles.