The kraken (/ˈkrɑːkən/)
1. a legendary sea monster of gigantic size and cephalopod-like appearance in Scandinavian folklore
2. Seattle’s new National Hockey League team, commencing its inaugural season in the league
For the first time in almost a century, Seattle has an ice hockey team again that competes for the Stanley Cup. (The Seattle Metropolitans beat the Montreal Canadiens in 1917 to become the first American team to capture the Stanley Cup. After the Metropolitans had disbanded in 1924, there were other teams, such as the Seattle Totems, that competed in the Pacific Coast Hockey League, but not in the National Hockey League).
So tonight, in a preseason game for the upcoming 2021-22 NHL season, the Seattle Kraken took on the Vancouver Canucks. More than 10,000 fans packed into the Spokane Arena, all the way across the state near its border with Idaho.
Forward Riley Sheahan (#15) scored the first-ever goal in Kraken history tonight.
The Kraken ended up winning 5-3.
The origin of the word ‘puck’ is obscure. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests the name is related to the verb ‘to puck’ (a cognate of poke), used in the game of hurling for striking or pushing the ball, or from the Scottish Gaelic puc or the Irish poc, meaning “to poke, punch or deliver a blow”.
A hockey puck is also referred to colloquially as a “biscuit”. To put the “biscuit in the basket” (colloquial for the goal) is to score a goal.
[Source: Wikipedia, Picture @SeattleKraken on Twitter]
* Billionaire private equity businessman David Bonderman is the majority owner.