Pipes, 59, built his business for the small slice of tried and true discus heads in the city, many of whom had moved here from regions with NHL traditions, New York or Boston, for example.
Business was catching up when, late one night in March 2016, a gas leak turned into a massive explosion that swept through several businesses across the street from the Angry Beaver.
No one was injured inside the bar that night, but the interior looked as if a hurricane had ripped through it.
Pipes covered the building for a time and prepared for a return.
A few weeks later, the robbers attacked in the pre-dawn darkness, taking away priceless items and trashing the place again.
Pipes could have left then, leaving behind his dreams and hundreds of dear clients. But he trudged on. When the NHL announced in 2018 that Seattle would get a new franchise, it seemed like a brilliant decision.
“After all those years of fighting, I was finally ready to make that real breakthrough,” Pipes said.
Then came the pandemic. The bar suffered the same shock that small businesses across the country felt. On government orders, it closed. Then it was opened to partial capacity. Pipes tried to turn. He turned his bar into a takeout restaurant. When that failed, it was turned off again.
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