Kraken Hockey

While I know some people may be thinking that there is no way to compare an NHL and WHL atmosphere and while I may agree that they have a point, I still think that they can be compared. They can be compared in a couple of different ways: music, fans, and vibes.

Music:

The music at the Tri-City Americans facility caters to the older audience that watches the games rather than gearing more towards the younger audience. The Seattle Kraken play songs that are popular during that time, but they are also playing more pop music that gives the feeling more of being at a sports event. The Americans tend to play more country music, and it is the same music on repeat for almost every game, there are only a few different songs played. The Sound effects the Ams use are also the same every game, while they may be fun to hear at first it can get a little annoying being played at every single game. While I have only been to one NHL game I do watch all of their regular season games at home, I hear their music choices and am happy with what they choose. While I understand that in the minor league they do not have as many options necessarily, I also believe that they do not try and change the kind of music that they play and instead focus on what the older fans like.

Fans:

Most Kraken fans are die-hard, even though the team is still new the fans make it seem like the team has been around for decades. The Ams team has been around for a couple of decades, yet the fans don’t seem like they really care or even understand the sport. While I think that sporting events should be open to all people no matter how big a fan they are, the Ams team doesn’t even feel like they have a home ice advantage given how pathetic the crowd is. Instead of focusing on cheering for the Ams, fans instead focus on heckling the other team. This is especially hard to hear because the other teams, along with the Ams, are full of kids from about 16-20. Minor league sporting events in general have gotten too comfortable with bullying the athletes that are playing, no one should be getting booed if they are a kid even if they are on a rival team. The fans of the Kraken are constantly wanting to watch the game and have their full attention on the ice during play; this makes the games feel even more like an experience rather than just a sporting event.

Vibes:

The vibes of the NHL cannot be matched by any other sport, I cannot be convinced otherwise. However, the vibes of some minor league teams make the sport feel as if they are just as important as the big leagues, sadly the Ams have been unable to do this. All of the production feels like it is disengenuous, part of this is because their rink staff tend to be high schoolers and middle schoolers, but this also means that they do not seem to care about the team or what is happening. The Ams have not figured out how to get the fans riled up for a game so that they are wanting to root for the team, instead half of the staff seem like they don’t even want to be at the arena. The Kraken bring in a vibe from the start of the game, when they lower down that tenticle it feels like the game has begun. The Kraken have figured out a way to make fans feel involved throughout the home game while also keeping them cheering even when the team is down with three minutes left. During the game I went to on March 1st, the Kraken were up 6-2 against the Vancouver Canucks, they started panning the cameras to different Canucks fans and putting a sad face filter on them. While I understand that a WHL team cannot afford the same equipment that an NHL team can, I still believe that the staff and organizers are not trying hard enough to make the team feel the love that they deserve.

The Kraken and the Ams are my two teams, while I may support the goalies of all teams, these two will always hold a special place in my heart for how they got me into hockey. That being said, I believe that the Ams owe it to fans to change how they entertain the fans during games. The Ams are a team that has fallen into the cycle of supporting the older fans while not giving the sport a real chance to grow in the Tri-Cities, part of this problem is definitely a lack of understand what is getting people to a game. To many fans like me, we understand that hockey is not just about fighting but it is also about watching, in my opinion, the best sport there is to watch out there.