The night before Halloween, a crowd in purple and teal packed the Oakland Ice Center on 18th Street for the first home game of the Oakland Skates. The Oaklandside reported that the sold-out crowd of about 1,000 watched the Skates erase a 3-0 deficit and beat the Santa Rosa Growlers 4-3.
Who they are
The team's website describes the Skates as a semi-professional Senior A hockey team in the Mountain Hockey League. The Oaklandside reported that the league is 14 years old and plays by NHL rules. The team was started by four friends and hockey teammates, Daniel Witt, Cassidy Lavin, Shawn Shelby and Alan Duda. They also co-founded the Oakland Hockey Project, a nonprofit that helps underserved kids play and watch hockey. Witt told The Oaklandside the idea came after Lavin saw how the Oakland Ballers brought the city together.
A name with history
The name comes from a roller hockey team, also called the Oakland Skates, that played at the Oakland Arena from 1993 to 1996. Oakland's ice hockey history goes back further: the Oakland Seals, later the California Golden Seals, played at the arena from 1967 to 1976. The team mascot, Mac Ray, is a skate, a kind of ray found in Bay Area waters. He took the ice to Mac Dre's "Thizzle Dance."
The scene
Councilmember Carroll Fife dropped the ceremonial puck. "Oakland has the best fans in the entire country, and that didn't leave because billionaire sports franchises left," she told The Oaklandside. Home games are at the Oakland Ice Center, and tickets are sold through the team's website.