Record crowds witnessed a thrilling opener, but the Torrent fell short. A standout performance by Frost goalie Nicole Hensley denied Seattle in their historic home debut.
16,014 fans of women’s hockey packed Climate Pledge Arena on Black Friday to watch the inaugural home opener between the Seattle Torrent and the two-time Walter Cup champion Minnesota Frost. The turn out set a record for attendance: the largest crowd at a women’s hockey game in a US arena, and the highest-attended primary-arena home opener in PWHL history.
The Torrent fell 0-3 to the Frost. Speaking before the game, head coach Steve O’Rourke admitted that the Frost had a two season head start at building a team identity and chemistry, and the Torrent would need time to get there. Seattle managed 30 shots on goal, but Frost goaltender Nicole Hensley refused to give an inch, making her first start of the season a shutout victory.
Despite the loss, the vibes were high as hockey fans and fans of women’s sports celebrated the official arrival of professional women’s hockey in Seattle. As the roster was introduced, Seattle-native Marah Wagner received cheers worthy of a hometown hero, even surpassing those of Captain Hilary Knight. The Seattle crowd proved why the city is known for its volume over and over as they cheered for near-goals, groaned for misses, and spontaneously erupted in chants of “Let’s go Torrent” and “refs you suck.”
With the home opener loss, the Torrent add their mark to a storied Seattle inaugural season history. In 1976, the Seahawks lost their first home game against the St. Louis Cardinals. The next year, the Mariners sailed into the picture with a 7-0 shut out loss to the California Angels. The Storm lost their inaugural home opener in 2000 to the Sacramento Monarchs and in 2013 the Reign also fell to the Chicago Red Stars. In more recent memory, the Kraken also lost their home opener to the Vegas Golden Knights in 2021. The only team to defy the Seattle inaugural curse were the Seattle Sounders—but only if you count the MLS league opener in 2009: in 1976 the Sounders lost their opening exhibition match against the New York Cosmos 3-1.
All-in-all, there is a lot with this team to be happy about. The Torrent put 30 shots on goal: some quality, gritty shots that took real skill to save. Against another team or netminder, it is unlikely the score would have remained at zero. The Frost, by comparison, recorded 25 shots. Two out of three penalty kills were successful, and possession was not weighted too heavily in Minnesota’s favor. This is an extremely talented team put together by a smart front office. As Coach O’Rourke said, the Torrent are two years behind and, “this is going to be a journey for us to get where we want and get this identity to go. There’s a lot of good parts…I like a lot of things we did tonight.”
The Torrent's next home game is December 3rd at Climate Pledge Arena.
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