Article content continued

As for the city itself, Seattle is not new to professional sports. Though the NBA’s SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City in 2008, Seattle has NFL and MLB teams, as well as a successful soccer team that on Saturday lost to Toronto FC in the MLS Cup — the Sounders beat Toronto for that title in 2016 — and which Forbes ranked in 2015 as the MLS’ most valuable franchise.

Photo by Elaine Thompson / AP

Similarly, hockey is not new to the city, with the Seattle Metropolitans having won the Stanley Cup in 1917. The state of Washington also has four teams playing in the Western Hockey League, including two (the Seattle Thunderbirds and Everett Silvertips) that are about 30 kilometres north and south, respectively, of where the new NHL franchise would be located.

And yet, this isn’t Minnesota or even Wisconsin. Seattle, with its cool and wet winters and location on the West Coast, is not exactly a natural hotbed for hockey.

“There’s none,” Seattle Thunderbirds GM Russ Farwell, who has lived in the area for more than 20 years, said of the city’s hockey culture. “You have to understand there’s none here. We have, like, seven ice rinks right from Everett to Tacoma. It’s a niche sport right now because of the lack of rinks. It’s the last place in the U.S. to turn onto hockey.”

That doesn’t mean it can’t grow into a hockey market.

We’re only a few months into their first season, but Vegas is proving expansion teams can attract new fans with a winning product and the right marketing plan. Now, with a season ticket drive in the future, Seattle has an opportunity to show how committed it is to hockey.

Based on the increased clientele at The Angry Beaver, it looks promising.

“What I see in my little slice of the world is that there is a culture that will support hockey, but who knows what that’s going to look like 10 years down the road,” said Pipes. “I don’t know if I’ll have enough money for season tickets, but I’ll be first in line to see them.

“Hopefully, it does so well that I have to open a bigger place.”

• Email: mtraikos@postmedia.com | Twitter: @michael_traikos