“It’s a whirlwind,” Firkus said with a chuckle. “Obviously, you don’t really picture playing your first game in Finland, but it’s a unique experience that you’ll look back on and be grateful for.
“And my mom and dad did end up making it earlier and they’re on the way right now,” he added. “So, that’s exciting to be able to have some family in the building. You’re so far away from home.”
He didn’t yet know how hairy things would be for them still.
Upon touching down in Helsinki about 5:30 p.m., they immediately went through passport control and then checked into their airport hotel. They dropped their bags off and donned matching Kraken jerseys with their son’s name and No. 57 on them.
After, they quickly hopped a train from the airport to the arena, somewhat jetlagged and not really clear on where they were going.
“We ended up missing our stop,” his dad said. “We went one stop too many and had to walk back the other way to the arena.”
That took another 15 minutes. Then, upon arriving at the arena’s entry doors, Firkus’ mother was told by security that her purse was too big and had to be gate checked for retrieval later.
His mother told the guard at the arena entrance doors that she’d just wanted to see her husband over to the ticket turnstiles so he could go watch the warmup and then would come back with her purse. But when the first guard let them through the doors to the security officers manning the turnstiles, the couple got lucky.
“They just ran our tickets and let us through,” she said. “So I said, ‘OK, let’s go!’”
They both took off and made it to their seats, exhausted, about 20 minutes before the warmup begin.
Their son, drafted in the second round in 2022, started on a line with Chandler Stephenson and Freddy Gaudreau. He got 11:38 of playing time in the Kraken’s 5-1 loss.
“He looks like he’s a little bit nervous out there,” his mother said.
But when asked, both parents insisted they were not nervous at all. After all, they’d already done their part in making it there.