Leadership on the ice, lessons in schools: Yanni Gourde does his part to grow the game of hockey in Seattle
By Charles Hamaker
Queen Anne, WA – Ever since being selected in the 2021 expansion draft, Yanni Gourde has embraced the city of Seattle and its people. The Quebec born forward that has captivated fans with his high-energy, smiling-through-fist-fights personality just continues to give fans more and more reason to support him and his team. Yanni added another reason, as he recently visited John Hay Elementary school in Queen Anne to meet with a fourth and fifth grade P.E. class. Gourde was joined by JT Brown, former teammate and current team broadcaster, as well Kraken mascot Buoy for a few hours of games, questions, and even a few autographs.
Gourde spent the end of the day demonstrating some stick handling and discussing how he’d attack a goaltender (Photo from Charles Hamakers Iphone)
Reinforcing why he’s a fan favorite
As previously stated, Gourde has become a fan favorite for the Kraken fan base, a great example of this was winning the “Fan Favorite” award and the “Guyle Fielder” award as part of the first ever annual team honors. The two-time Stanley Cup winner appreciates that admiration, and genuinely enjoys spending time with the people of this city. Yanni and JT Brown came out to John Hay Elementary and started off the day by joining the P.E. class, demonstrating a passing drill and playing a game of keep away. Ultimately, keep away with the whole class resulted in ultimate chaos as Buoy joined in and was the playful menace we’ve grown to adore.
Following the activities with the P.E. class, the rest of the school gathered in the gymnasium. Yanni displayed some stick handling, encouraged a few kids to do the same and take some shots on net. To wrap up the activities, Yanni answered a range of questions from his go-to pregame music (country), how he stays healthy throughout the season, and his pre-game meal. The crowd of kids had some hard hitters, prompting Yanni to pause and reflect multiple times. While answering as many questions as he was allowed to, Gourde kept that same smile on his face that we’ve often seen, whether it comes after scoring a goal, or after a massive tilt. Afterwards, Yanni reflected on the day and what days like this mean to him.
“I remember being that age, being super excited to see a hockey player. I’m super excited to do stuff like this, it’s great to see them playing hockey, having fun, and seeing them absolutely enjoy it. I love being able to share this stuff with them and the community. They asked great questions, some of them were very thoughtful and it was obvious that they thought about it a lot.”
Gourde’s former teammate and member of the Kraken broadcast crew JT Brown helped set up a passing drill (Photo from Charles Hamakers Iphone)
Supporting representation in hockey
Shortly after Gourde had finished up with activities and signed a few autographs for the kids, he took a minute to discuss the importance of representation in hockey, especially for girls and women. A father of two young girls, Gourde is directly involved with the importance of encouraging women to play hockey, and the representation in the sport. Taking it a step further, he even mentioned the upcoming Rivalry Series game between Team USA and Team Canada this Sunday at Climate Pledge Arena.
“It’s great for the sport, I love it. I’m probably going to go out to the game Sunday with my daughters, I am super excited about that. We definitely need more of that in our sport, it helps grow our sport and it makes everything better for us. They’re getting a bit more visibility, and it’s awesome. They play great hockey, as I said I’m really excited to go watch them play on Sunday.”
Team USA took in the Kraken vs Wild game last week (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Kraken commitment to getting involved with the youth takes many different forms
Gourde’s visit to John Hay Elementary is one of about six visits that members of the Kraken have taken to different schools during the 2022-2023 campaign. While Gourde was making his visit, goaltender Chris Driedger stopped by a school in Bellevue. In addition to those two, Karson Kuhlman, Matty Beniers, Morgan Geekie, and Gustav Olofsson have all visited places of learning in the Seattle area. Whether it has been passing along their knowledge, signing autographs, or playing games, the players have been creating memories that the youth will hold for a long time. These memories will not only potentially sprout a love of hockey but also make sure that the team stays to their commitment to our community.
A few days ago, when Jaci McCormack from “Rise Above” was honored, the Kraken commitment to giving back to the kids was mentioned. With the players visiting these schools, we get to see a different side of that, as the athletes directly come out to spend time from their day with the same kids that wander the Kraken Community Iceplex, wear their jerseys, attend games. In that sort of light, I wanted to get Gourde’s opinion on the impact that athletics and sports have on these kids.
“To play a sport at this level, even growing up, you have to have discipline, watching what you do, what you eat. That factor, and keeping a schedule, making sure to work out, it kinda prepares you on how to handle things as an adult. I think it’s a great teacher of teamwork, you’re always with teammates, trying to get better as a team. Communication, all those skills that you need to have as a hockey player, you’re gonna find them in life. If it’s not gonna work in hockey, it’ll still bring you different social skills and aspects that you’ll need in whichever career that you pursue. That is what sports bring, and it’s very important. That’s why I encourage everyone to play sports.”
Setting an example to follow, whether it’s with his teammates or with young fans
Finishing up the day, I wanted to know what sort of message, knowledge, or lessons that Yanni Gourde wanted to leave with these young kids, fans around the world, or anyone that followed his story. Gourde has had a remarkable career, coming from Quebec as an “undersized” player that went undrafted, winning two Stanley Cups with Tampa Bay, and is now raising two young girls with his wife Marie in the city of Seattle on a team that’s been very exciting early into the season. Yanni left me with a great message that not only further helped nail down my belief that he should wear the captain’s C for Seattle, but it’s an incredible message to leave with the youth of our city.
“I think resiliency is big, you mentioned that, determination. I didn’t take no for an answer, I wanted to prove everybody wrong all the time throughout my career. It actually fed me, I stayed hungry because of that, I wanted to prove someone wrong. When someone said something about me, let me show him that I can do it. It fed me in terms of getting better, and when that happened, I just wanted more. I want the next year to be better than the year before, and I started to bring that mentality on a day-to-day basis, and that helped me grow my career. That is what I want to leave with them.”