I really hope hockey survives in the Pacific Northwest.
It should. The sport is so fast-paced that it makes for a significant barrier of entry to learn how it is played and how to follow the puck. It takes a commitment that not every sports fan is willing to make, especially later in their viewing life. But that same fast pace that makes viewing difficult at the start eventually gives the game all of its excitement, and it’s why I’ve loved watching it my whole life.
But I’m now seeing it in a new way.
My younger daughter Cecily started skating a few years ago, chose to enter the Learn to Play Hockey class for kids at the Kraken Community Iceplex in Northgate, and this year has played for one of their 10U teams. Yes, they have three 10U teams, and that is just for girls! They play half ice (though they are about to start working on the full sheet before a tournament in British Columbia) but the quality of play has blown me away. The girls are fast – faster than I remember our high school girls team was in the 90’s. (I may not have attended a great football or basketball high school, but we had an excellent hockey team that plays in one of the elite conferences in the country).
The Kraken may not be getting it right with their NHL roster, but in true Tod Leiweke fashion, they are building a fanbase in this community for the long-term. He knows that people are more likely to watch the sport if they understand it, and one of the best ways to not only learn it but appreciate it, is to play it.
Of course, we have another barrier of entry problem – this one the cost of equipment (skates, helmet, pads, etc.) which no parent wants to spend, especially if their kid doesn’t take to it.
So with that in mind, the team will buy your first set of equipment (at least for kids aged 4-9 who sign up for their Try Hockey for Free program). If you hate, no problem; you haven’t committed too many resources to it. But if you love it, you are probably hooked and now you will want to play and watch for life.
The benefits, at least for Cecily and from what I’ve seen from her teammates, have been amazing. There aren’t many contact sport options, especially for girls. Soccer and basketball can be physical, but if you play them that way as a kid, you tend to end up with a ton of bumps and bruises. Hockey allows for even more physicality but (at least at this age) without the injuries thanks to the pads, helmets and facemasks. And it’s amazing to see how confident the girls are both on an off the ice and how quickly they are improving.
To be honest, watching it is kind of intoxicating. Cecily has improved a ton – from tentative and barely moving away from her own crease in game one to seven goals in her last three games. As a parent, it has been incredibly rewarding. I’m rearranging my schedule to get to Vancouver for a weekend tournament and canceling plans so we can attend an outdoor tournament in Winthrop next month.
But it’s more than just seeing her succeed. It’s about seeing her overcome a challenge and conquer something hard. Hockey is hard. You have to learn to skate, and then you can learn everything else. And there are a lot of times along the way that it feels overwhelming.
And I felt a little guilty that she was going through it alone.
I learned to skate as a kid, but not with any real ambition. I got as far as skating around a rink counter-clockwise, but that was about it. As an adult, I finally figured out how to skate backwards, but switching from one to the other is still a major challenge. Don’t ask me to stop without the help of the boards. But I played basketball my whole childhood and have enjoyed working with Cecily as she learns that sport, so why not try to learn hockey with her as well?
This week, I dusted off some equipment and made my way onto the ice for a “drop-in” session with one of the other dads who also coaches a youth team. And after an exhausting hour, I can confidently state that there is not one thing on the ice I can do better than my fifth-grade daughter. She is faster than me, shoots it better than me, can turn better than me…you name it. And while that’s humbling for sure, I am excited for the challenge of doing something hard.
This will be the third sport I’ve attempted to learn as an adult, following golf and skiing. My belief is that all three are especially challenging to learn later in life, but it’s the difficulty that has kept me addicted to golf in particular.
There is no doubt hockey is going to be equally tough. I spent an hour trying to convince my body to follow the brain when it was told to turn the skates and skid to a stop. But to no avail – my body has taken too many falls and just isn’t willing to comply with this direct order, at least not yet. Hopefully it will eventually listen because I’d like to play with other adults in the Seattle league but, even more importantly, I’d like to play with Cecily. Any sports dad knows the bonding time you get to spend working and playing together is invaluable, and it has already brought us closer together.
As I said, I hope hockey really catches on in this region. A better NHL product will certainly help (and the Kraken may need to make a change in the front office to finally make that happen). We may be in line for a Pro Women’s Hockey League team. My family recently attended a barnstorming event for that league at Climate Pledge Arena that was packed with passionate fans (many of them young women like my daughters) and the quality and physicality of play was tremendous.
But nothing can take the place of playing a sport, especially during childhood, and it will take years for this generation to grow into the fans spending their time and money on the product. In the meantime, consider getting your kid on the ice or even trying it together. At worst, it’ll be a fun bonding experience that will give you an appreciation for how talented these athletes are. At best, you will have a new lifelong obsession. You can’t lose!
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