Young girls in Pacific Northwest excited about PWHL's arrival in Seattle

Andrew Destin · The Associated Press

· Posted: Jun 10, 2025 2:06 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

Elly Garcia-Dudek can't assistance but regard retired toward the crystal during hockey practices astatine the Kraken Community Iceplex.

The 12-year-old Garcia-Dudek is simply a large instrumentality of women's nationalist squad stars similar Hilary Knight, who starred for the Boston Fleet of the Professional Women's Hockey League past season. Pretty soon, Garcia-Dudek, who started playing done the Seattle Kraken's Learn to Play program, won't person to look crossed the state for relation models similar Knight.

The PWHL is expanding to Vancouver and to Seattle adjacent season, which was euphony to Garcia-Dudek's ears. She and her household are Kraken fans and person already enactment down deposits for PWHL Seattle play tickets. Luckily for Garcia-Dudek, Knight has agreed to play successful Seattle.

"It's truly inspiring and chill to ticker them play due to the fact that it's antithetic from the men's crippled due to the fact that women aren't utilized to playing with contact, but they get to with the PWHL, which is truly chill to watch," Garcia-Dudek said. "It inspires maine personally like, 'Oh, I tin beryllium 1 of them erstwhile I turn up."'

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Seattle's lineup should diagnostic plentifulness of offence from the outset, particularly with Knight, a four-time Olympian and PWHL MVP finalist past season, connected the scene.

The Pacific Northwest enlargement volition springiness the PWHL 8 teams and its archetypal 2 westbound of Minnesota. The moves are expected to spur adjacent much involvement crossed the portion successful hockey, which has steadily grown particularly successful Seattle since the accomplishment of the NHL Kraken successful 2021.

Pacific Northwest hockey

When Martin Hlinka began his tenure arsenic manager of the Kraken Youth Hockey Association successful April 2021, they had conscionable 72 players crossed six teams. The KYHA present has 39 boys' and girls' teams, including a 14U Jr Kraken squad that Garcia-Dudek volition play connected this year. Hlinka credits this maturation successful ample portion to the Kraken's presence.

"The maturation was large due to the fact that much kids ticker games connected TV oregon in-person," Hlinka said, "and they person a amended involvement and they're excited to beryllium portion of it."

Since 2014-15, there's been an summation of 1,744 much younker hockey players successful Washington. And since 2021-22, erstwhile the Kraken began play, an further 268 kids person started playing successful the state.

The maturation has been observed by Julia Takatsuka, a goalie co-ordinator for the Jr Kraken who grew up playing hockey successful the Seattle suburb of Lynnwood. When she was a kid, Takatsuka said, she had to question to Canada each play for tournaments, and that signifier rinks were comparatively spartan compared to the Iceplex, which boasts 3 rinks and was built successful September 2021.

"I would person loved to bid astatine a spot similar [(KCI] wherever we person each of the existent things we need," Takatsuka said. "I was a goalie, truthful we request pegs to clasp the nets down. I didn't person that. We person that now. We person crystal that has existent creases for the goalies. Didn't person that increasing up, either."

The Seattle country requires much enactment and clip to go a women's hockey hotbed, though. As Hlinka pointed out, determination is lone truthful overmuch crystal clip to spell around, and determination aren't astir arsenic galore rinks successful Seattle arsenic determination are successful cities similar Vancouver oregon Toronto.

Seeds for growth

Still, there's wide grounds women's hockey has already grown successful Seattle.

The women's nine hockey squad astatine the University of Washington played its inaugural play successful 2021. This has allowed Regan Thomas, a West Seattle autochthonal and pupil astatine Washington, to proceed playing the athletics she adores. It wasn't until she went to boarding schoolhouse successful New Hampshire that Thomas adjacent became alert she could play hockey.

"I deliberation having those relation models is incredibly important," Thomas said. "I find myself adjacent present similar `Ugh, I privation this was astir 10 years ago.' Because not that I would person ever made it, but conscionable benignant of the imagination of making it — you fig retired however to propulsion yourself harder."

Lindsay Skogmo's son, Otto, already has plentifulness of relation models whenever helium shows up to KCI for signifier with the eight-and-under Jr Kraken team. When Skogmo was precocious astatine her son's school, she heard rumblings from girls astir however hockey wasn't for them.

Skogmo hopes pro women's hockey successful Seattle volition animate young girls similar Garcia-Dudek to support dreaming big.

"I consciousness similar successful this satellite close now, successful our country, a batch of females consciousness similar it's not going bully for us, oregon it's going against us," Skogmo said. "So, for america to beryllium capable to get a nonrecreational pistillate squad present truly gives a batch of miss power."