Around 200 Kraken season ticket members meet players at private reception in Helsinki

The Story

A travelling group of roughly 200 Seattle Kraken season ticket members (STM) met up with the full team at a private reception in Helsinki on Friday, after watching an open Kraken practice at Veikkaus Arena.

The reception was held at a restaurant inside Veikkaus Arena, where most of the attendees were STM members travelling with official NHL partner Victory Travel, though the event also drew fans on their own as the restaurant crowd expanded beyond 200.

For Steve and Patti Hagan of Belltown, the afternoon with the players capped a first international hockey trip that began in Stockholm, Sweden last week and continued in Helsinki this week. The couple said they also visited Estonia by ferry on Wednesday and attended a Thursday game between the Kraken and Hurricanes.

Speaking at the event, Steve Hagan said the week had included “all the extra stuff,” including a side trip to the Suomenlinna sea fortress, and added that they were now “comfortable just being here and seeing the one more game.” Patti Hagan said the couple had been enjoying the food during the trip, including remarks about how “Orange juice tastes like orange juice” in Finland.

While taking in the scenery, Steve Hagan said he had not expected how many islands Finland has, adding, “You’re surrounded by water.” He also said the group’s camaraderie had felt different from the STMs they normally travel with, noting, “None of them could make it. They’re jealous that we’re here.”

Before the reception, Kraken fans watched open practices from close range, including youngsters getting their first look at NHL players. Kraken alternate captain Matty Beniers said practice and then the post-practice interactions are different experiences, describing it as “a lot of fun” afterward when fans cheer for sticks and pucks.

Beniers said the shift helps them remember what it was like to see NHL players as a child, adding that the focus after the session becomes trying to “make someone’s day.” He said the same idea carried over at the Victory Travel event, where Beniers joined teammates including Berkly Catton, Jordan Eberle, Mackie Samoskevich, Brandon Montour and Adam Larsson to mingle with older fans.

Everett Fitzhugh, the Kraken radio play-by-play commentator working the games for the Kraken Hockey Network during the trip, served as master of ceremonies at the reception.

STM member Drew Shirk of Roslyn said the week’s side trips were a highlight, including a ferry trip to Tallinn and seeing the city’s former Soviet-era buildings alongside a medieval Old Town. He said he also found the hockey environment interesting, describing fewer ads and less marketing around the series while saying Finnish fans are “very serious about it.”

Shirk also pointed to Carolina forward Sebastian Aho’s impact in Thursday’s game, when the Hurricanes beat the Kraken 4-1 in the opener of the two-game series. In that game, Shirk said the Kraken’s lone goal came when Freddy Gaudreau scored at 13:15 of the third period.

Shirk said fans in the group were eager to celebrate once the Kraken found the net and that the atmosphere felt meaningful even as the final score turned against them. He added that the bond across the group had grown during the trip, describing their shared passion for the Kraken as “really exciting.”