Several top Kraken prospects participated with local youth in the opening of the Hubbard Homestead Sport Court, a venture spearheaded by the One Roof Foundation with additional funding from King County
By Geoff Baker /@geoffbakernhl /nhl.com/kraken
September 22, 2026
Kraken prospect Ty Nelson can appreciate the value of a neighborhood court for playing ball hockey.
The standout defenseman with the AHL Coachella Valley Firebirds grew up in a 700-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment in a part of Toronto plagued by gang violence. So, when asked to partake in last week’s opening of the Hubbard Homestead Sport Court in Northgate, a project spearheaded by the team’s One Roof Foundation (ORF) nonprofit arm, Nelson, 22, knew based on his own experiences what such a neighborhood facility can mean.
“We really would have to leave the neighborhood to play ball hockey and stuff,” Nelson, 22, who scored twice in two Kraken preseason games over the weekend, said just before being returned to the AHL this week.
“When I was really young there was a park across the street from my house where we could play a whole bunch of sports. But then when I started getting older, the neighborhood took a turn for the worse and so we had to travel about three miles away to a school just to play basketball or run on the track or anything like that.”