EVERETT – Pat Hawes wears forest green Silvertips garb like thousands of other enthusiastic fans of Everett’s hockey team, but the depth of his dedication comes out when the rubber meets the road.
This season, Hawes figures he’s missed just nine of the Silvertips’ three dozen road games. He hasn’t missed a Western Hockey League playoff game involving Everett since the 2003-04 inaugural season.
“If it’s a Friday night or a Wednesday night game in Spokane, I’ll just drive there and back in the same day,” said Hawes, who oversees a family-owned sheet metal business. His family also hosts two of this year’s Silvertips players.
Hawes is one of the road warriors who go to great distances, and considerable expense, to follow the team from Portland, Ore., to Brandon, Manitoba. In at least a few cases, taking in road games came second to their livelihoods only when necessary.
Craig Wood of Smokey Point works for a crane rental company that does business all over Washington and British Columbia. When possible, he tries to sync his out-of-town travel with Silvertips games on the road. He even takes clients to games.
“It’s just worked out really well for business,” Wood said.
He and Hawes both traveled to Spokane during the first round of this year’s playoffs, and Hawes was one of the 20 or so fans who journeyed more than 500 miles up to Prince George, B.C., for last week’s games. Wood plans to be in Prince George tonight for Game 6 of the Silvertips’ second-round match with the Cougars.
Each year, the Everett Silvertips Hockey Booster Club arranges at least five or six road trips for groups of fans, said Pat Henderson, the club’s travel coordinator. Often there are enough willing to pay $100 to $125 a person for an overnight trip that they fill a 50-passenger bus.
It’s a fun way to travel and reinforces friendships within the Silvertips fan community, Henderson said. During the trip, the bus riders play Silvertips bingo and other games. They usually all stay in the same hotel and even eat meals together.
“It’s part of the spirit of being a fan,” said Mike House, the booster club’s president.
But it’s difficult for most fans to take time off work in order to attend more out-of-town games, House said. In that respect, Wood and Hawes admit they’re lucky. Hawes said being the boss and keeping in touch with the office “affords him the luxury” of chasing the Tips.
“With instant messaging, my cell phone and a lot of e-mail, some people don’t even know I’m gone,” he said.
Hawes’ wife, Janet, who works in the family business and is involved with the booster club, also supports the trips. The Haweses’ reasonably fuel-efficient Toyota SUV can seat several adults, which also allows them to car pool to games with other fans.
It’s still not cheap, however, and there’s also the cost of season tickets to the Silvertips’ home games, which run about $400 to $900 apiece. Hawes said his family has cut out some other trips and luxuries in order to root on their team both at home and on the road.
Wood, who often travels with his wife, Kyoko, said fans in opponents’ cities are generally welcoming when out-of-town fans show up. Sometimes they’re shocked at the number of loyal fans who’ll travel. For example, in Chilliwack, B.C., this year, hundreds of Tips fans attended a game.
“We’re all just hockey fans,” Wood said.
Unlike Wood, Hawes said he’d probably have to miss tonight’s game in Prince George. But he doesn’t plan to give up his hockey-fueled trips anytime soon.
“I wish more people could do it. It’s really fun and good to see other parts of the country,” he said. “Traveling’s good for everyone.”
How much would it cost to hop in the car or fly to Prince George, B.C., and see a hockey game? It’s too late to drive for tonight, as it takes about 11 hours to get there from Everett.
Driving: $150.91 for a round trip of 1,016 miles, based on Snohomish County’s average price of fuel at $3.08 and British Columbia’s average of $3.92 a gallon.
Flying: $351 (plus tax) for a round trip from Vancouver, B.C., to Prince George on Air Canada, plus an estimated $27.84 for gas to and from Vancouver.
Tickets: $15.84 for single-game playoff ticket at CN Centre.
Hotel: $59.19 for a single-occupancy room at the Economy Inn.
Food: $20, the minimum cost of on-the-road fast-food meals.
TOTAL: $245.94 driving or $473.87 flying.
Note: All costs in U.S. dollars
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