More Than Meets The Eye 

There are times Patti Brinkley feels underestimated when some people first take her in.

It could be her 5-foot-1 stature or the fact the Kraken guest services manager works behind a main lobby counter at the Kraken Community Iceplex giving out information and selling everything from potato chips to pretzels and even skate rentals. The Woodinville resident admittedly gives off a few clues when working the register that she also happens to be a lawyer, a taekwondo black belt, and – oh yeah – taught Kraken mascot Buoy how to skate.

“I think people do tend to underestimate me,” Brinkley, 54, said with a chuckle. ‘I tend to be relatively chill and relaxed. And you know, I’m not the tallest.”

She’s also learned to shrug such things off. It comes with the territory of having been a rare African American figure skater, starting at age 5, in her native Chicago and continuing through her teens. It turned a few heads when she began coaching as well, starting in law school and resuming it later in her adulthood, eventually becoming skating director at the training facility for the American Hockey League’s Chicago Wolves.

Upon moving to the Seattle area some 18 years ago when her video game designer husband, Marc, took a job with Microsoft, she continued coaching and in 2012 became the skating director at the Olympic View Arena in Lynnwood.

Brinkley began working for the Kraken in May 2021 just ahead of their inaugural season.

With the team celebrating Black Hockey History Night, pres. by Amazon, at their Climate Pledge Arena game Tuesday against Detroit, Brinkley feels it’s important to represent her community in a way that gets people looking beyond first impressions. And like Black Hockey History Night itself, part of the Kraken’s “Common Thread” of themed games meant to honor communities not only during a single night but in continuing fashion throughout the season, Brinkley sees her representative role as part of an ongoing responsibility.

“There are times where I feel I’m definitely representing the community,” Brinkley said. “Definitely when I’m on the ice when I coach or teach. I’m trying to let some of the younger ones see that you can be on the ice. And that it’s a natural thing.

“Because there are a lot of kids who wouldn’t even think about being on the ice,” she added. “We have schools that come through here (on tours) and it’s not even a thought for the kids to skate because it’s not a part of their reality, you know? And it’s one of those things where it's like ‘No, you can do this. And it’s OK. It’s something that you can enjoy doing.’’’

Brinkley was one of “only two African American kids” figure skating in her area as a child in the 1970s. She became addicted to the sport, finding she missed coaching enough after getting her law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law that she quit her first job in Illinois as a staff attorney for a firm providing legal counseling to clients making unemployment insurance claims. She immersed herself in coaching full-time from there, though upon moving to Seattle she worked for the state of Washington as an unemployment insurance claims adjustor for a few years.

She also found time to get into taekwondo, which her son, Lucas, 19, and daughter, Kaianne,16, had started doing a year earlier in 2014. They loved it and talked her into taking some lessons.

“I’m kind of notorious that once I start something I have to finish it,” Brinkley said.

That she did for years, earning a third-degree black belt before hurting her knee and taking a break from the sport. She now teaches martial arts in addition to figure skating that’s “always been in my blood” for the past half-century.

At times during her on-ice journey, she’s gotten a few curious glances from people wondering about a Black woman in figure skating – particularly once she left the Chicago area and came out here.

“There were definitely not as many African Americans out here, but for me, I was very used to that,” she said. “So, even if I got the side eye or the odd glance it really didn’t matter to me.

“If I’m going to coach, or I’m going to skate, I’m going to be who I am. If you want a good coach, you’re going to come to me. If you choose not to, you choose not to. And quite honestly, that’s your loss and not mine.”

It was only natural the Kraken would want Brinkley working with them. She describes it as “a great environment” and “very diverse” on both the figure skating and hockey sides. Beyond her guest services day job, she also sits on the Kraken Figure Skating Club executive board and helps with coaching at the Community Iceplex when needed.

Including when it came to teaching Buoy how to skate. Brinkley had already been helping Lamont Buford, the team’s vice president of entertainment experience and production, improve the skating skills of some gameday presentation staffers when he approached her asking to work with the team’s future mascot.

“Lamont just said: ‘Buoy is going to need some help.’”

So, they worked together – starting slowly at first with basic straight-line skating moves.

“Buoy picked it up real fast,” Brinkley said. “He was a very quick learner. He practiced a lot and was a really good student.”

Once they got the basics down, they made adjustments for balance issues given the mascot’s overall size and weight.

And the rest, as they say, is some history Brinkley can look out on the Climate Pledge Arena ice during Kraken games knowing she helped with. Even if those walking by her daily at the Community Iceplex might never guess it.

“People don’t need to know,” Brinkley said. “I get my joy out of watching people that I’ve taught and seeing them put what I’ve shown them to use. That’s what really motivates me.”