What's 'Hat' You Say?

While some Kraken fans might not know about the origins of the hat trick-more about that in a moment-the importance of Jordan Eberle's three straight goals in Thursday's 5-2 win over Buffalo is undeniable.
The veteran Kraken winger scored twice, late second period and early third period, to give Seattle a 3-2 lead. The Kraken traversed from allowing a power play goal and falling behind in the last two minutes of the second period to a go-ahead goal and roaring crowd in less than four minutes of playing time.

Eberle wasn't done however. Just over eight minutes into the final period, Jaden Schwartz whipped a pass to Eberle who was speeding into the Buffalo Sabres zone. Eberle faked a slap shot before snapping the puck under Sabres and former Spokane Chiefs goalie Dustin Tokarski's pads.
It was a hat trick. The first hat trick in the history of the Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena. For Eberle, it was his fourth in the NHL. He did it twice with Edmonton and again as a New York Islander.
"It's an honor, it's really cool," Eberle said. "I have a couple [of hat tricks] but this one for sure, you get the first in Kraken history, in this arena, it's pretty special. I'm not going to lie, when it went in, I definitely thought about it. It's a neat moment, and it's part of history."
Hats reigned down onto the ice and the team celebrated what was not just a historical moment but a goal that put Seattle up 4-2 on their way to an uplifting 5-2 win. Schwartz added an empty net goal as the Kraken snapped a two-game losing streak.
Now about that hat trick origins. With help from hockey historian John Kreiser, a long-time writer and editor for NHL.com, the tossing of the hats traces back to cricket.
From Kresier and NHL.com:
In 1858, bowler H.H. Stephenson, playing for an all-England squad against a team from Hallam, South Yorkshire, took three consecutive wickets at Hyde Park Cricket Grounds in Sheffield -- meaning that he hit the wooden stakes behind the batter three consecutive times. A collection was taken up and used to buy a hat that was presented to Stephenson in recognition of his accomplishment.
A hat trick as hockey fans know it comes when a player scores three goals in a game. A natural hat trick is when a player scores three consecutive goals in a game. Eberle checked off that box too.
There are conflicting stories about how the term became popularized in professional hockey, according to Kreiser:
Though "hat trick" was used in some newspapers during the 1930s and early 1940s to describe a player scoring three goals in a game, the Hockey Hall of Fame says the genesis of the term originated when a Toronto businessman named Sammy Taft promoted his business by offering a hat to any player who scored three goals during an NHL game in Toronto.
Alex Kaleta, a speedy forward with the Chicago Black Hawks (two words at the time), went into Taft's shop on Jan. 26, 1946, and took a liking to a fedora but, the story goes, he didn't have enough money to buy it. Taft offered Kaleta the hat for free if Kaleta scored three goals that night against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Kaleta did that, and then some; he scored four goals in a 6-5 loss at Maple Leaf Gardens. One day - and a lot of media attention to 'Alex Kaleta's hat trick' later - the hat was his.
"There was no rhyme or reason to it," Taft told The Hockey News in 1992. "I just, for some reason, said 'You go out there and score three goals tonight and I'll give you the hat.' Sure enough, he went out there and knocked in three goals.
There was plenty of "rhyme and reason" to Eberle's goals Thursday.
The first one came 26 seconds after Buffalo's Kyle Okposo had scored on a power play in the second period to give the visitors a 2-1 lead, despite the Kraken heavily outshooting Buffalo. It started with Schwartz again, who had the puck behind the net and found Eberle in the slot to get the game square.
In the post-game media scrum, Eberle said he noted twin video boards showing the Kraken had tripled the Sabres' shots on goal ("25 to 8, I think") before he knotted the game at 2-2 before second intermission.
It didn't take long in the third to take the lead. Eberle made a move to get past a defender, caught Tokarski leaning and slid the puck in on the stick side for goal number two. Seattle had a 3-2 lead.
"Those are big momentum shifts in a game we desperately needed to win," Eberle said. "You look at the standings, I know it's early, but you don't want to fall too far behind."
The hat trick goal was an insurance score and represents Eberle's fifth of the season. He's tied Jared McCann for the team scoring lead with seven points.
It was just a week and a half ago that Eberle had yet to find the back of the net. He now has five goals over his last five games.
Like the team, Eberle was getting chances but was struggling to break through with a goal. First, it was a goal a minute into the victory over Montreal. He followed that up two games later with a whirling backhand score against the New York Rangers, all leading up to Thursday's outburst.
He'd been saying he wasn't worried about the goals and that, as long as he, and the Kraken, were getting chances, the goals would come. Thursday, he put an explanation point on his keep-the-faith mindset with a historical first for the franchise.
"I've played a long time in this league, and you've just got to stick with it," Eberle said Thursday post-game. "It's cliché, but when you're not creating those chances, that's when you've got to start worrying. As long as they're there, some nights they go in and some nights they don't. It's just that simple."
Thursday's heroics resulted in him being the first star of the night in the hockey tradition of naming three stars. In a now-Kraken tradition, he launched a plush salmon deep into the stands to celebrate.
"I live downtown so I go to [Pike Place Market] with my little girl quite a bit to get groceries," said Eberle. "I see [the fishmongers] throw the fish, so I wanted to make them proud."
Hockey historian John Kreiser contributed to this article.