The Seattle Thunderbirds met with the Portland Winterhawks at the ShoWare Center in Kent this weekend. While most games at the new facility have been mostly full, it could have been the 2010 Hockey Challenge that made the building electric. Or perhaps people had Olympic hockey fever and decided to catch a local game for around $25 instead of paying almost 500 times more for a ticket to Sunday’s gold medal game. Either way, Saturday night was a packed, fun-filled night of hockey.

Seattle has not had the best season this year, but played a really close game with Portland. The game went into an overtime shootout, which Portland won on their last shot. A heart-breaker of a game for any Thunderbirds fan.

I had a great time shooting some picture of the game, both on the ice and off. You can see some of my favorites after the jump, or visit my whole set on Flickr.

A Thunderbirds game is a great way to spend an evening. And I would even say the drive to Kent is worth the fact that you don’t have to watch a game in a half-empty Key Arena. Do IT!

The Seattle Municipal Archives are an excellent way to get to know Seattle’s history. This 1936 photo of flooding from a broken water main shows that the intersection of 2nd Ave Extension and Main has always been an awkward one.