One Everett Silvertips superfan has good reason to thrill over exploits on the ice. Anzonetta “Toni” Hause, 84, has followed the game for more than 60 years.
She’ll be given flowers by members of the team at tonight’s home opener.
Hause attended her first hockey game in 1944 to see Gerald “Bud” Hause, a man she was dating who played in the City Hockey League.
War years depleted the supply of players and travel was restricted, so the team was called the Wartime League. Hause’s favorite players were Dave Downey and Frank Dailey.
She married her hockey player in 1946. Seattle’s team became a part of the World Hockey League and was called the Bombers, then the Americans and later the Totems. She sat in Seattle’s old Mercer Arena and watched Totems Gordie Kerr, Don Ward and Gordie Sinclair.
Her husband served in the Navy during WWII and learned to be a dental technician. He set up a lab in their Lynnwood home. His childhood friend and former teammate, Vince Abbey, became one of the owners of the Totems. Bud Hause was busy, his wife said, making partials and dentures for hockey players after overzealous opponents rearranged their teeth.
Appointments for dental work became momentous events at the Hause home. Children Jerry and Molly loved it when players Rudy Filion, Chuck Holmes or Earl Heiskala would come through the door to the lab. Young Jerry Hause would ask for a stick or puck and a detailed rehash of the previous game.
When the Totems became the Breakers, the family remained fans. But when the Breakers became the Thunderbirds in 1985, Bud Hause began suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, his family said.
For the first time in their marriage, attending hockey games became difficult for Bud.
Toni Hause and her son, Jerry, began using the family tickets. A big event was the night Glen Goodall’s No. 10 jersey was retired, she recalled.
Bud Hause died before he could see an Everett Silvertips game, but Toni Hause embraced the Everett team, including its young starts Matt Sawa, Mitch Love, Torrie Wheat and Peter Mueller.
Daughter-in-law Jackie Hause made memory books for Ivan Baranka, Love and Coach Kevin Constantine. This season, Jackie Hause will have a Secret Pal. She’ll prepare a road-trip goodie bag for a player whose name she drew.
To celebrate the home opener today, fans are asked to wear green, especially to the game. Players and staff will hand out complimentary copies of The Herald that are wrapped with a special Silvertips section between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. today at several downtown Everett intersections.
Another 6,000 copies of The Herald will be given out at the game.
Before Saturday night’s skirmish, a block party is planned for 5:30 p.m. to note the grand opening of the Events Center’s Ice Box Lounge.
The lounge at the Events Center will feature a 100-inch projection TV screen that will show a live feed of the games. Three cobra-shaped self-freezing ice towers with 12 taps will deliver four varieties each of domestic and microbrewery beer for fans 21 and older, along with other liquor choices.
At the block party, listen to music by Quick Fix and meet Lincoln, the Silvertips mascot.
If you attend the game, you might see Toni Hause.
“She will be at the Everett Events Center, sitting on her special Silvertips cushion, a warming blanket over her knees, sporting a green hat while she watches her Silvertips start a new season,” Jackie Hause said. “Her eyes are sparkling.”
Players will present Toni Hause a bouquet of flowers.
It’s a class team with devoted fans.
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.
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