Seattle SPORTs Now

  The good news for the Seattle Kraken is that they’re in the thick of the race for a playoff berth in the Western Conference of the NHL. The bad news- the Kraken are officially the lowest scoring team (59 goals) in the National Hockey League. And it has become a problem. Yesterday afternoon at Climate Pledge Arena the Kraken were blanked 4-0 by the Edmonton Oilers. Stuart Skinner earned the shutout in the Oilers’ net. In his previous start against the Dallas Stars, the Oiler netminder was chased to the showers after allowing four goals on eight shots before being unceremoniously pulled with 14 seconds remaining in the first period. While the Kraken haven’t been a high-scoring machine all season long, the scoring draught first became noticeable last weekend. In a Sunday game against the New York Islanders, the Kraken had a mere 11 shots early in the third period. Edmonton had the first eight shots in yesterday’s game, but the Kraken would take an 12-11 SOG lead at the end o...

  With 3:57 left in the second period in yesterday’s contest between the Seattle Torrent and the Minnesota Frost, the crowd delivered its first `Ref, You Suck’ at Climate Pledge Arena. Yes, women’s hockey has arrived in the Emerald City. Seattle Torrent captain Hilary Knight had been taken down, obviously interfered with away from the play, moments after Seattle had been called for a penalty. The referees may or may not have seen the play and no Minnesota penalty was forthcoming. More so than the referees, the Torrent had the misfortune of facing the two-time Walter Cup champions, in their first-ever home game. Led by three of Knight’s Team USA chums, Kelly Pannek, Kendall Coyne-Scofield and goalie Nicole Hensley, the Frost spoiled the Torrent debut with a 3-0 victory. However, there were a lot of positives starting with the Seattle setting a record for indoor women’s hockey attendance in the USA, 16,014, Not surprising, considering that Seattle’s the only city to have major league...

There’s been a declaration made on some on-line sites that the Seattle Kraken are a boring team to watch. The Kraken won’t ever be mistaken for the Edmonton Oilers- the Wayne Gretzky or Connor McDavid versions- in fact, just the opposite. Only one team in the NHL, the Nashville Predators (50) have scored fewer goals than Seattle (57). In fairness to the Kraken, arguably their two best pure goal scorers- Jared McCann and Kaapo Kakko have missed most of the season with injuries. Conversely, maybe more importantly? – only three teams have given up fewer goals than Seattle. The Kraken have allowed 59, trailing Pittsburgh (58), Philadelphia (56) and Colorado (50). New head coach Lane Lambert implemented a structured system since Day One of training camp, and it’s paid dividends for a club that’s made the playoffs only once in its previous four years of existence. The mark of a solid goaltender is a save percentage over .900, stopping at least nine out of every ten shots. The Kraken ...

  The Seattle Torrent made their Professional Women’s Hockey Debut last night in Vancouver as the Torrent (think torrential downpour) make Seattle the first city to have teams in all three women professional league joining the Seattle Storm (WNBA) and the Seattle Reign (National Women’s Soccer League. The positive- the fan enthusiasm, as a busload of fans made the trip to Vancouver and several local watering holes hosting Torrent viewing parties. The negative- the Torrent dropped a 4-3 decision to the Vancouver Goldeneyes, who were also making their league debut. Seattle led most of the game at 1-0, 2-1 and 3-1 before the Goldeneyes tied the game with 17:57 left in regulation. Vancouver’s Claire Thompson scored seconds after goalie Emerance Maschmeyer was pulled for an extra attacker and Abby Boreen notched the game in overtime. Julia Gosling scored the first two goals in Torrent history, the second set up by captain Hillary Knight. The captain of the 2023 US gold-medal win...

This writer has spent his life pretty much in Providence, Rhode Island and Seattle, Washington. It’s hard to find someone who could be called a legend in both cities, but there was one. Leonard Randolph Wilkens who died last week, made his mark in cities roughly 3,000 miles apart. Lenny Wilkens, who grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of New York city, put Providence College on the map when he led the Friars to their first NIT championship (when a lot fewer teams made the NCAA’s) in 1960, after leading the Friars to their first-ever NIT appearance the previous year. A second-team All-American, the Boston Celtics could have claimed Wilkens as a territorial draft pick before the draft (they took Tom Sanders from NYU in the regular draft) after Wilkens went to the St. Louis Hawks, two picks earlier. He was the first player to have his number (14) retired at Providence and the Sonics would later retire his number (19). Seattle sports fans know that Wilkens coached the Seattle S...

The post-season awards are piling up for Seattle Mariners’ catcher Cal Raleigh. Following an historic season leading the Seattle Mariners to the American League championship, Raleigh received the Players Choice Award as the top overall player in major league baseball, as voted by the players, beating out Shohei Ohtani from the world champion Los Angeles Dodgers and Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees. The players also voted Raleigh the American League Outstanding Player ahead of Judge. He also received the Silver Slugger Award as the best hitting catcher in the American League. A no-brainer there. However, the biggest post-season awards, the American League and National League Most Valuable Player as voted on by the Baseball Writers Association, will be announced on MLB Network on Nov. 13 , 4:00, Pacific time. Last week, the three finalists for all the BBWAA Awards were announced. Ton no one’s surprise, Raleigh, Judge, and Cleveland Guardians’ third baseman Jose Ramirez are the t...

  After their worst game of the regular season, a 6-1 home loss to the San Jose Sharks, the Seattle Kraken entered a tough weekend, facing two road opponents in two days. The Kraken reverted to the way they’ve played most of the season, posting a 4-3 overtime victory against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night, before coming up on the short end of a 2-1 decision to the Dallas Stars yesterday at American Airlines Center. The Kraken record now goes to 7-4-4 on the season. Things didn’t look good for the Kraken when it was announced that Joey Daccord, who had started all but two games in the Seattle nets this season, was being placed on Injured reserve with an upper body injury. The team was already missing Jared McCann (the team’s all-time leading scorer) and Freddy Gaudreau with injuries. That meant that Philipp Grubauer and Matt Murray, who had both started only one game this season, will man the nets for Seattle, at least until next weekend the earliest that Daccord, proba...

 Dear Sir: Regarding your request on X and Bluesky for someone interested in covering the Seattle Torrent. I currently write a blog called Seattle SPORTs Now, covering the Seattle Kraken primarily, some Seattle Mariners, and hopefully the Torrent. I would definitely be interested in covering the Torrent for Emerald City Spectrum. Prior to moving to Seattle, I worked for most of the newspapers in my home state of Rhode Island as a sportswriter and always wrote a lot of hockey- Mount St. Charles Academy, the number-one ranked high school team in the country for several years, college hockey and the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League. I've enclosed some recently written articles. These are game stories which I believe you'd be interested in but I wrote some feature articles on the blog about Pete Carroll and Dave Niehaus that drew positive feedback. In conclusion, thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.  Email; rvmurphy@mail.com Phone number:...

After a big win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night sent the Seattle Kraken to the rarified air of first place in the Pacific Division (for about 20 hours) the ghosts of bad performances invaded Climate Pledge Arena as the San Jose Sharks posted a 6-1 victory. Bringing back the memories of bad games from seasons past, the Sharks scored three early third period goals sending some Kraken fans to an early exit. The first home regulation loss for Seattle drops the Kraken to 6-3-4 on the season, while the Sharks improve to 5-6-3, after starting the year at 0-2-3. The lone bright spot for the Kraken came in the first period when Ryan Winterton scored his first NHL goal. Trailing 1-0, Winterton was foiled on a partial breakaway, when SJ goalkeeper Yaroslov Askarov made the initial save. However, Shane Wright picked up the rebound and Winterton scored off the rebound of a shot from defenseman Ryan Lindgren. ``You just try and keep a good mind-set,’’ said Winterton, when asked abo...

  For one night at least, the Seattle Kraken can say they stand atop the Pacific Division of the National Hockey League. With most of the NHL idle, the Kraken leapfrogged over four teams with a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks last night at Climate Pledge Arena. The Kraken with a 6-2-4 record, good for 17 points, lead Anaheim, Vegas, Los Angeles and Edmonton by one point in the standings. Last night’s contest was a rebound of sorts, as Seattle comes off two consecutive overtime losses to the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Rangers. Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle assisted on one another’s goals and Joey Daccord stopped 29 shots as the Kraken ride the wave that started with the Mariners’ long playoff run, followed by the Sounders current playoff push, and the Seahawks, who also reside in first place. Against the Rangers on Saturday night, the Kraken managed a paltry 13 shots on goal. Last night they came out shooting, recording the first six shots on goal. But Chica...