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A18 SPORTS
Saturday 19 May 2018
Atlanta hockey fans cheering anybody but The Jets

By PAUL NEWBERRY they began trying to pawn
Associated Press off the Thrashers. Not sur-
ATLANTA (AP) — The play- prisingly, no one was inter-
off run by the Winnipeg Jets ested in acquiring a team
has ripped the bandages that would have to rent an
off some old wounds in arena from an increasingly
their former home. dysfunctional group. As the
Hockey fans in Atlanta — losses mounted, reportedly
yes, they actually exist — in the range of $130 million,
are still bitter about the way Atlanta Spirit began look-
they lost the Thrashers sev- ing for another way out.
en years ago , a move that When the Winnipeg offer
deprived this city of a team came along, there was no
for the second time and real attempt to keep the
probably any chance of team in Atlanta.
ever again being a mem- Through all the turmoil, the
ber of the NHL club. Thrashers never ranked at
In the A-T-L, a popular re- the bottom of the NHL in at-
frain of the postseason tendance. In fact, the aver-
seems to be A-B-T-J. age from their gloomy final
Anybody But The Jets. year would have beaten
"I won't support the Jets," out three teams this season.
former Thrashers fan Fred Many Thrashers fans are still
Johnson wrote in an email. upset about being ridiculed
"In fact, I'd like to see their for a perceived lack of sup-
fans suffer for a lot longer port after the team moved.
like we did." And unlike the Flames, who
Instead of suffering, the retained their name and
Jets and their fans are thriv- some sense of their Atlan-
ing . Winnipeg reached the ta history after moving to
Western Conference final Calgary (and were largely
against the Vegas Golden cheered by their former
Knights — a sort of double- fans for winning the Stan-
whammy for Atlantans, In this Feb. 13, 2011, file photo, Atlanta Thrashers right wing Anthony Stewart, center, skates off ley Cup in 1989), the Jets
the ice with teammates Evander Kane, left, and Nik Antropov after losing 3-2 to the Carolina Hur-
who have seen what their ricanes in an NHL hockey game in Atlanta. made a clean break with
former team could have Associated Press their past.
been while getting a tan- Johnson, the former Thrash-
talizing glimpse of what a the ice, clueless manage- doing. more embraced by hock- ers fan, recalls the vitriol
well-run expansion fran- ment and inept coaching, Anyone remember An- ey-mad Winnipeg than it when the move was an-
chise can do its very first and a roster perennially low gelo Esposito, a supposed ever was in Atlanta, this nounced. He said some
season. on talent. top prospect who was ac- city's fans have long got- Jets fans who trolled the
Founded in 1999, the The lone highlight came in quired in the Hossa deal? ten a bum rap that goes all Thrashers' message boards
Thrashers managed just 14 2007, when the team cap- Anyone? the way back to its first NHL belittled Thrashers fans as
wins and 39 points in their tured the Southeast Division Bueller? Bueller? team. "worthless" and said the
debut year, which remains title and finally made the The Thrashers always Yes, the Flames lasted only team would now win the
the worst full-schedule total playoffs for the first (and seemed to operate under eight years in Atlanta be- Stanley Cup in Winnipeg
in almost a quarter-centu- only) time. a dark cloud, most tragical- fore moving to Calgary in because that's where "real
ry. The Golden Knights piled The euphoria didn't last ly exhibited in 2003 when 1980. But they averaged fans" were.
up 51 wins and 109 points, long. star player Dany Heatley more than 10,000 fans ev- "They had no idea about
captured a division title and The Thrashers were swept lost control of his Ferrari on ery season (not a sure thing the dysfunctional manage-
were just two wins away in four straight games by a narrow Atlanta street, in those days) and outdrew ment," he said.
from playing for the Stanley the New York Rangers. At- struck a wall at high speed the NBA's Hawks every year Atlanta deserves a third
Cup going into Game 4 of lanta began the following and killed teammate Dan but their last. That franchise chance at making the NHL
their series against the Jets season with six consecutive Snyder . Heatley recovered was largely doomed by work, but that's not likely to
on Friday night. losses, leading to the firing but was never the same, the economics of the late happen.
"It's not hard to feel like of coach Bob Hartley, and eventually requesting a 1970s. As if closing the door on
just yesterday Atlanta was the dismantling of the fran- trade so he could get a For the Thrashers, it was a any chance of getting an-
an expansion team," said chise commenced a few fresh start elsewhere. similar story. other team, Philips Arena is
another Thrashers fan, Tif- months later. The Thrashers soon followed They averaged more than finishing up a $192.5 million
fany Burns. "I couldn't have In what became an all- Heatley's lead. In 2011, af- 17,000 in their debut season renovation that will essen-
imagined how surreal it too-familiar scenario, the ter a proposed move of the despite putting one of the tially make it a basketball-
would have been to be a frugal Thrashers dealt away bankrupt Phoenix franchise worst teams in modern NHL only facility.
part of something so suc- Marian Hossa rather than to Winnipeg fell apart, the history on the ice. But the No thought was given to
cessful so quick." lose him as a free agent — NHL quickly engineered franchise was essentially accommodating hockey.
In contrast to the Golden one of many horrible deals a deal to send Atlanta's doomed when it was sold For those who still love the
Knights, the Thrashers never engineered by general team north in place of the to a group known as Atlan- game in Atlanta, they'll
really had a chance in At- manager Don Waddell, Coyotes , collecting a hefty ta Spirit (what a malicious have to make do with
lanta, doomed by a bick- who somehow kept his job relocation fee and ridding example of false advertis- watching games on televi-
ering group of owners who throughout the Thrashers' themselves of another trou- ing that was). sion and rooting for other
spent more time suing each entire existence without blesome franchise. The new owners wanted teams.
other than caring about ever really demonstrating While it's impossible to deny only the Hawks and Phillips Anybody but the Jets, that
what was happening on that he knew what he was that the team has been Arena. Almost immediately, is.q