SEATTLE — While the Seattle Kraken are away, their mascot is inviting some teachers to come play.
As Seattle continues its historic season in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, some local educators are getting a big surprise from one of the team's most colorful characters. Buoy the Mascot is rewarding some lucky locals with elusive playoff tickets for game 3.
Seattle advanced to round two of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after defeating the defending champions in Colorado over the weekend. The Kraken are now in Dallas to take on the Stars and is celebrating a dramatic Game 1 win by inviting some worthy teachers to join them for the playoff run at Climate Pledge Arena.
Mascot Buoy was joined by injured Kraken forward Joonas Donskoi for a surprise visit to Northgate Elementary on Wednesday where they handed out 20 pairs of tickets to deserving educators.
The Kraken community Ice Plex is located in Northgate and the team has had a community impact partnership with the school since 2019 — before the Kraken had a name or the Iceplex was even built.
“NHL Seattle” provided shirts and floorball hockey equipment to the school and have been community partners ever since. Two-thirds of students at Northgate Elementary are from low-income families.
Patrick Reynolds, a PE teacher, says the team has been showing up for the staff and students for years.
“Even today the kids are over at the community ice plex as a part of the Learn to Skate program so this relationship means everything to us,” Reynolds said.
In addition to handing over the hottest tickets in town, the Kraken also presented the school with a $10,000 donation from the Kraken Unity Fund.
The fund was created by the Seattle Kraken, One Roof Foundation and Starbucks with funding from the team's ownership group. It was designed to honor inspiring individuals who are doing outstanding work to transform lives, enable resiliency and uplift and unite communities across the Pacific Northwest.
Local heroes are honored at home games and earn grants to local nonprofits of their choice. Today Northgate Elementary is the recipient of a surprise donation from the team and Kraken Brand Manager De’Aira Anderson says it’s an extension of the organization's commitment to being good partners to the community.
"We have a manta internally called ‘Make us better’ and we want to make sure everything we do makes us better as a team and show that outwardly," Anderson said. "Today is a great example of that commitment.”