Auburn residents Keith and Lulu Carpenter have been attending Kraken practices since the third day the team took the ice three years ago.
And yet, they were still among the first of nearly 700 donut-and-croissant-munching fans to line up for seats Friday morning at a private Season Ticket Member (STM) event at Kraken Training Camp, pres. by Starbucks. For the Carpenters, STMs, since the beginning, a chance to see their favorite players up close never gets old.
“It’s just the closeness to the players, seeing the community come back together after a long off-season,” Keith Carpenter said. “It’s a ton of fun to feel the community start to breathe again.”
The Carpenters wore homemade Viking hats she’d knit in Kraken colors and that they bring to every game. They were seated at the far end of the main practice rink near to where the players can switch up and walk toward a secondary practice rink.
And Lulu Carpenter quickly made it apparent why.
“I get to see my boys,” she said.
As she was speaking, Daccord appeared and walked right by their section of stands towards the other rink.
“Oh, Joey!” she shrieked, drawing a wave from the netminder. “I finally get to have Joey (Daccord) as a goalie. I’ve been rooting for him since Day 1 of practice (three years ago).”
The Kraken have held training camp and development camp events for STM before, but never on this scale. Fans formed an early morning line snaking past the main entryway to the Kraken Community Iceplex and all the way up an atrium escalator to the building’s second level about an hour before practice began.
As the doors to the main ice rink opened, fans slowly made their way towards the grandstands, with mascot Buoy greeting them along the way. Kraken staffers also handed out croissants, donuts, fresh fruit cups, coffee, tea and water along the way for fans to take to their seats.
“This year we just want to make sure that we’re providing value and maybe a little more player engagement so that people feel connected to our players and our team,” said Kraken director of sales and service Cassandra Tuiasosopo. “We have some really big events coming up later on specifically for our members that we’ve never done before.”
For Courtney Hopkins, an STM since the team’s first three seasons, just getting into this event was good enough.
“I’d never been to an event, so we’re really excited to be here,” she said, having snagged a front-row seat along with her son, Hudson, 9. “There were never any tickets left by the time I tried to register. But this time, I was lucky enough to see the email right away.”
Her son, having enjoyed some donuts, said getting to meet and pose for selfies with Buoy was a highlight.
“I said ‘hi’ to him,” he said.
Players came out to raucous cheers for each of three practices in various groups. They’ve come up close to the glass and wave as fans called out their names.
At the end of the final session, Kraken Hockey Network analyst Alison Lukan introduced new head coach Dan Bylsma to hundreds of remaining fans from the corner beside the main rink, where the Carpenters were sitting in their homemade Viking hats.
“I just love the community,” Lulu Carpenter said. “I just love that the team is all about the fans and including them in what they do. I love the family feel of it.”
