Rematch Tonight With Carolina Team Kraken Beat 7-4 One Week Ago
Dunn's Celly On His Belly
As athletes and coaching staffs must, the Seattle Kraken have turned their focus to tonight's road rematch in Raleigh with the Carolina Hurricanes.
But we have the luxury coach Dave Hakstol & Co. don't - lingering just a bit longer on Tuesday's topsy-turvy 5-4 overtime victory in Detroit over the Red Wings.
By now you've seen Jared McCann, at the end of an exhausting shift, feed Jordan Eberle for the game-winning score with five seconds left.
You've probably also seen McCann seal the victory with a smootch on the top of Eberle's helmet. Perhaps you haven't seen the celly by the third Seattle player on the ice at the moment the goal was scored.
As the edited video below shows, Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn and Detroit's J.T. Compher ride each other into the end boards. Dunn falls, with Compher applying what in amateur wrestling would be a two-point takedown.
Since Dunn can't wriggle free, Vince figures he'll at least roll over so he can watch how overtime ends. It ends with him doing an adorable flat-on-his-back goal celebration.
"Bring On The Funnel Cakes!"
Just as defense pairings or forward lines need time to learn each other's tendencies, so it is with broadcast teams. This is the rookie season for new Kraken radio color analyst Al Kinisky, alongside third-year play-by-play broadcaster Everett Fitzhugh on KJR-FM.
Kinisky replaced Dave Tomlinson, now working for Vancouver Canucks TV. As a player, Kinisky spent three WHL seasons with the Seattle Thunderbirds and Lethbridge Hurricanes, and one with the BCJHL Surrey Eagles. He returned to the WHL as radio color analyst for Everett Silvertips games between 2006-16.
It's taken Kinisky a few Kraken broadcasts to understand how generous Fitzhugh is in sharing the microphone. "Everett's a guy who wants to have a conversation during a game. He'll intentionally pause to let me jump in," Kinisky explained on Nick Olczyk's Signals From The Deep podcast.
"When I'm watching a game and he's calling it, he'll put pauses in when the puck goes back in the Seattle zone, and maybe the lines are changing. He'll pause, and I know that's an opportunity for me to comment on something I saw. I'm speaking more with Fitz than I have with any other broadcaster."
Kinisky has a signature victory expression created during his days with the WHL Silvertips, according to the Everett Herald. Following a 'Tips victory over the T-Birds, he and radio partner at the time Jon Rosen visited a brewery with funnel cakes on the menu.
Future wins over Seattle would be punctuated with Al's celebratory call, “Bring on the funnel cakes!”
Kinisky has brought the radio call with him to Kraken broadcasts. Don't believe it? Listen for yourself.
