EVERETT — Silvertips lore says that the clanging cacophony of cowbells at hockey games is inspired by an old “Saturday Night Live” sketch in which Christopher Walken delivers the line, “I gotta have more cowbell.”
Kurt Gobel of Marysville found “more.”
Gobel made lots of noise with an Indian elephant bell Tuesday night at the National Hockey League preseason game between the Phoenix Coyotes and the Tampa Bay Lightning at Everett’s Comcast Arena.
The huge green bell, which he bought on eBay, is hand-painted with the Silvertips logo. It didn’t really match Gobel’s outfit for the night. His Coyotes red-and-black hockey jersey adorned with Peter Mueller’s name and number 88 was purchased in Arizona when Gobel and his family were there to watch Mueller last season.
The former Silvertips player is a friend, Gobel said, and it was too bad Mueller wasn’t scheduled to play in the game and that hockey legend Wayne Gretzky wasn’t expected to stand behind the Coyotes’ bench.
No matter. Good hockey is good hockey.
A Silvertips season ticket holder, Gobel’s seat is on the aisle with no seats in front of him. It’s a seat that allows him to ring the bell without bothering others. His son Nicholas, 5, wears old stereo earphones for protection when Gobel, 6-feet-5, stands and gets excited.
“Everett has the loudest barn in the Western League, but we are the friendliest,” Gobel, 54, said. “We have a great team and great fans, many of whom are originally from all over the country.”
During the hockey season, the Boeing machinist grows a green mohawk, but he and his family usually leave the bell at home when they travel to see Silvertips games in Vancouver, Seattle, Spokane and Portland.
The near-capacity crowd at the arena Tuesday included some Lightning fans from Eastern Washington who were there to watch former Spokane player Dustin Tokarski. Most people, however, cheered on the Coyotes and gave the team, including another former Silvertip, Shaun Heshka, a standing ovation before the start of the game.
Friends Bryna Owen and Jessica Fry of Everett wore their old Silvertips jerseys with Mueller’s and Heshka’s names. Hockey fans since they were kids, the women said they learned early that yelling, cheering and screaming are all part of hockey.
Before the game, the pizza restaurants along Hewitt Avenue had standing room only and the line for the game stretched down the block and on to Broadway.
Greg and Nancy Dootson of Snohomish and their sons Ian, 13, and Colin, 11, munched slices of pizza before going inside the arena. They own six cowbells and hope the preseason game means that the National Hockey League is looking to see if the Everett- Seattle-Tacoma region could support an NHL team.
“Besides, Vancouver Canucks tickets are impossible to buy,” Nancy Dootson said.
Erik Hestikind and his wife, Jessica, of Granite Falls were one of the first in line to get in. They were dressed in Coyotes jerseys that they purchased last Christmas when they went to Phoenix to see Mueller play. Despite ticket prices that started at $50 at the window, the couple said they wouldn’t miss the preseason game.
“This is a big deal for Everett,” Hestikind said. “There was no question we would attend.”
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.
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