Kanazawa to Kyoto by Seishun Kippu ticket

I will be travelling on 13-Dec-15 in a group of 4 person from Kanazawa to Kyoto and would like to use Seishun Kippu tickets for our group.

I search from Hyperdia on the above route using ordinary train and it showed me the route as follow:
Kanazawa (JR Hokuriku Line for Tsuruga, the arrow show a transfer at Tsuruga and subsequently change train at Tsuruga for JR Rapid Service for Himeji, all the way to Kyoto.
Q. If follow the above routing, means I need to make 1 transfer at Tsuruga only?
I try to avoid many transfer.
Q2. Is this kind of train usually very crowded on a week day travel?
Q3. can I buy this ticket at Kanazawa station?

Thank you.
Christine

If that is what it says than yes.
Is the limited express from Kanazawa to Kyoto direct not possible for Seishun 18? I am not certain on the conditions.

For the other two questions
It has no reason to be crowded on a regular weekday. PH weekdays may be more crowded.
Also depends on the timing. If during hours where are going to work/home people may use the train service to go to the smaller towns along the line.

You can get the ticket from the station yes.

Is the limited express from Kanazawa to Kyoto direct not possible for Seishun 18? I am not certain on the conditions.

No, the Seishun 18 is normally not valid on limited expresses, with only four exceptions: between Aomori and Shin-Aomori, between Kanita and Kikonai, between Shin-Yubari and Shin-Toku, and between Miyazaki and Miyazaki Airport.

By the way, looking on Hyperdia you see that in those four cases, limited express fees for unreserved seats are 0 yen, so I guess it makes sense that the Seishun is valid, since it is generally valid on trains which have no additional fees over the base fare...

PH weekdays may be more crowded.

What is a PH weekday?

Public holiday?

Oh, yea that makes sense. I was a confused because Dec 13-15 doesn't have anything special going on.

I wish people wouldn't just make up non-standard abbreviations as they go. Ends up taking more time for the readers to figure them out...

Hi,
Thank you all for your input.
I am concern if I need to stand all the way to Kyoto.
Is Kanazawa is the first station for the local train that runs to Fukui or Tsuruga? If it is, there's a higher chance to get a seat.