Seattle SPORTs Now

  For the fourth consecutive year, the Seattle Kraken have selected a center-iceman as the number-one pick in the amateur draft. With the overall eighth pick, the Kraken selected Berkley Catton from the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League. Matty Beniers, the first-ever selection by the Kraken in 2021, made the selection at Sphere (not the Sphere) in Las Vegas. Catton, 18, a 5-11 native of Saskatoon, SK  comes off a 54-62-116 season. That placed him third in goals and fourth in points in the WHL. The NHL Central Scouting Bureau ranks Catton 8th among North American players. "We liked him. He's a gifted offensive player with good speed," said Kraken general manager Ron Francis. "He has a skill set to make plays. We think he's a high-end offensive player and we're happy to have him in the fold." Catton, who was on-hand in LV for the draft, sounded equally pleased with joining the Kraken organization. "This is so cool. Playing with Spokane, I...

  The story of how the Seattle Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena came to be is a long and arduous tale with more than its share of twists and turns. That journey, complete with political intrigue and a world-wide COVID lockdown, is chronicled in journalist Geoff Baker's book, Rising From The Deep. Baker had a front-row seat to Seattle's quest for an NHL team in his role as the Seattle Times' sports investigative reporter, a position designed to follow the machinations of Seattle's quest for a new arena. As someone living in Seattle, Baker was able to weave what was going on in the city at that time from traffic problems, the presence - and power- of companies like Amazon and Starbucks, a socialist elected to the Seattle City Council, a mayor resigning in disgrace, COVID-19 and `Big Bertha' (non-Seattleites can look it up). And they all played a role in the fight for a new arena. As a Seattle resident transplanted from the East Coast, I found Baker's views on Seatt...

With the widely rumored return of the Seattle Sonics, the Emerald City would surely be considered a `major league' city in the sports world. Of course, that wasn't always the case. The ill-fated Seattle Pilots came and went in 1969, but if you were a local sports fan your appetite was wetted by University of Washington football (Seattle's primary sports team for many years) and minor league baseball and hockey. But not many people know that a major league team - a world champion no less- moved to the Pacific Northwest in the winter of 1959-1960. The Chicago Westerners, the 1959 world champions in the wild-and-wacky pseudo sport of the Roller Derby appeared at the venue that was known as various times as the Seattle Civic Arena, Seattle Ice Arena and Mercer Arena. While the Ravens also skated games in Spokane and Portland, four games that were televised from the Civic Arena can be found on YouTube - two games apiece against the New York Chiefs and the Los Angeles Braves.  It...