Seattle’s Torrent Break Record, Arrive With Purpose in Their First Home Game

SEATTLE - The first “Let’s go Torrent!” chant started 10 minutes before the inaugural PWHL Seattle team took the ice for warm ups at the Nov. 28 home opener. The energy had a weight to it. It felt like the payoff to years of letting the world know Seattle was ready for women’s hockey. From the work by organizations like Women’s Pro Hockey Seattle to rec-league players who kept insisting that a women’s pro team could thrive here, to queer fans and women who built their own community inside the sport long before Seattle had a team to call theirs.

When Climate Pledge Arena finally filled, it filled completely. By puck drop, 16,014 people were in the building, setting a new U.S. indoor attendance record for a women’s hockey game. The broken record wasn’t a surprise; it was something the city had been preparing to prove.

Ahead of the game, general manager Meghan Turner talked about that significance of this moment for her and her team. “I expect us to meet the moment,” she said. “When the show starts and when the game starts, I expect it to be pretty emotional for a lot of people in good ways… it’s the beginning of a really cool time that I know will last forever.”

The night carried that feeling from the start. Fans wrapped around the concourse in a merch line that never seemed to shorten. Lesbian icon and Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile was in the building. So was Sasha Colby, the winner of Season 15 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Youth teams from across the state, dressed in their own jerseys, waved their rally towels. Older fans, the ones who once had to follow the sport from afar as it grew in other markets, raised their signs and chugged their beers in celebration that this moment had been a long time coming.

Captain Hilary Knight felt the energy immediately. “There’s something about Seattle that is just so special,” she said. “We could feel the love… It was a dream come true, sort of pinch-me moment. To now call Seattle home, it’s so special.”

Minnesota took the opener 3–0, a game shaped by early Frost pressure and chances Seattle couldn’t quite convert. Corinne Schroeder kept the Torrent within striking distance for most of the night, and the team pushed in the third, leaning into the noise that refused to taper off. Even after the clock made it clear that a comeback wasn’t coming, the building kept rising to its feet after blocked shots and hard puck recoveries. 

Minnesota’s Kelley Pannek admitted she noticed it from the other side. “It’s fun to play in buildings like this,” she said. “Fans are engaged, they’re loud… even if it’s not the crowd cheering for you, it’s still fun to play in front of a sold-out arena.”

When hometown forward Marah Wagner skated out for her introduction, the roar of the crowd swelled impossibly and a wall of signs reading “Coach Wagner” lifted from a group of girls she had coached locally.

“It’s tremendous to see how much girls’ hockey and women’s hockey have grown here,” Wagner said. “I’m really thankful I get to share my passion with them and show that it’s possible now to be at the highest level here on the West Coast.”

Early in training camp, goalie Carly Jackson talked about what they hoped their presence in Seattle would mean: “Make an impact in the community and for Seattle. Make people feel like they belong… It's important to introduce people to the rink and let them know it’s a place they belong. And if you don’t belong, then let’s create one.”

The record crowd reflected that vision already: it looked like the Seattle women and queer sports community that has shaped this city for years. It looked like families who wanted their kids to see themselves in the sport. It looked like people who had waited for a space where they weren’t just tolerated in hockey, but centered.

Seattle waited a long time for this exact moment. When it finally came, the city showed up loud enough to make sure the Torrent heard them.