from Michael Traikos ot the National Post,

Seattle, with its cool and wet winters and location on the West Coast, is not exactly a natural hotbed for hockey.

“There’s none,” Seattle Thunderbirds GM Russ Farwell, who has lived in the area for more than 20 years, said of the city’s hockey culture. “You have to understand there’s none here. We have, like, seven ice rinks right from Everett to Tacoma. It’s a niche sport right now because of the lack of rinks. It’s the last place in the U.S. to turn onto hockey.”

That doesn’t mean it can’t grow into a hockey market.

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