We’ve heard a lot about Seattle’s sports culture over the past few years. Sounders supporters have baffled visiting MLS teams with their size and vocal nature, helping the squad make the playoffs in each of their first five seasons. The Seahawks “12th Man” mystique has grown as they’ve put together their best season ever, setting and then resetting the Guinness World Record for loudest public stadium in history.

Noise came as little surprise, then, when I hit up ShoWare Center for a Thunderbirds game against their cross-town rivals the Everett Silvertips. More than five thousand fans of both teams came out for the last weekend of 2013 for the second half of a home-and-home series. The building has a capacity of just over six grand, so 5K in the house meant ShoWare was one rockin’ barn for this tilt. It was an absolute treat to be a part of it — fans of the two teams playfully (if not particularly imaginatively) taunted each other all game, and screamed, gasped and bit their nails in all the right places.

Sure, Thunderbirds fans complain about the Everett cowbells, but deep down they love it. I mean, deep, deep down. Keep looking. It’s in there someplace.

More after the jump.

Rogers Arena has mysteriously turned into a library when the Canucks play. This is a team that has more skill, more depth and more consistent success than any other Vancouver team in recent memory, but the Rog is a frickin’ tomb most nights. Across town, the Giants bring in big crowds by WHL standards. They’re fourth overall in league attendance, according to HockeyAttendance.com, but that average crowd of six thou means the Pacific Coliseum is operating at just 36% capacity. Even when the families and fans who show up make noise, it’s lost in the rafters beside the Jim Robson Broadcast Booth. It’s that whole put-the-same-dinner-on-a-smaller-plate mentality, just with, y’know, noise. Put four or five thousand people in the Abbotsford rink — yes, I know, the Heat would love to put 4–5K in there, but that’s another story — and it will seem small because it’s a seven-thousand seat arena with a large footprint and a high ceiling. On Renfrew Street, six thousand bums in seats for the Giants barely seems to make a dent in the place, because it was originally an NHL barn.

In Kent, this building with the ShoWare brand on the front was custom-built in 2009 for its centrepiece product, the Seattle Thunderbirds. Every fan is heard. Every fan is a part of the experience. Sightlines are good, and every single seat feels close to the ice. It’s the ultimate WHL rink. That same four or five-thousand strong audience can rock the place out, because they dominate the room.

The number of green-shirted, bell-ringing Silvertips fans in the stands was not lost on the benches, both of which are somewhat depleted from a combination of injury and players representing their respective countries at the World Juniors in Malmo, Sweden.

The T-birds, who had gutted out a 3–2 win on Friday night in Everett — two points they took against the flow of the play, let’s be honest — jumped out to a 2–0 lead before sitting back somewhat. Everett started the comeback, eventually going up 3–2 early in the third period on a gutsy goal by Carson Stadnyk. Seattle would tie it late in the game, but lose in overtime.

I’ve long been a fan of Seattle for their food, their beer and (back when I was young and single), their women*. Now, thank the hockey gods, I can add ‘passion for sports’ to the list.

Don’t take my word for it. I took an American friend and his son to the game. They’d never seen a hockey game live before — they’re baseball fans, through and through — and they walked away with their eyes lit up and full of excitement for the sport. They said the crowd was a major factor in their enthusiasm. “Sometimes I started to yell, but I didn’t know why, really. Everyone around me was so excited, I just got caught up in it all.”

I know, right? Something tells me that wasn’t their last visit to ShoWare.

Watch post-game highlights and media scrum here.
See the WHL game summary sheet here.
And, of course, check out all my photos from the game here.

* I’ve replaced that last perq with fascinating street sculpture, I swear.