When recently asked to write about why I’m a Thrasher fan I thought this would be a great way for me to put out the word about what a great group of fans we have in Atlanta and to talk about our team and why we love them. The Atlanta Thrashers are a fairly young hockey club in the NHL and have not had the years of glorious history that you will find among other clubs, but in it’s young 10 years there have been many ups and downs that have not only shaped the team but it’s fans. These ups and downs have molded the fans into some of the most passionate hockey fans I’ve ever seen.
The team picked up early in it’s exsistance two exciting stars that have both become dynamic forces within the NHL in Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk. Heatley went on to capture the Calder Trophy, the reward for the rookie of the year, while Kovalchuk won the Rocket Richard Trophy; the reward for the most goals scored in a season. Watching both of these players in the same uniform made hockey very exciting here in Atlanta.
One night tragedy struck, Dany Heatley was involed in an automobile accident that injured him seriously and claimed the life of fellow teammate Dan Snyder. The city supported the young hockey player and grieved the loss of a talented young man who had left us all too early. As time moved on so did Dany, looking to find a place to play that wouldn’t be a constant reminder of that terrible night. The organization moved on also, as it must, but never forgot the Snyders. Over the years with the help of the Thrashers Foundation over $700,000 was raised to help build a hockey rink and community center in Dan Snyder’s home town. The Thrashers maintain close contact with Dan’s parents Graham and LuAnn. The way that this organization has continued to support the Snyders and to involve them makes the Thrashers a class organization and one of the reasons I’m proud to call myself a Thrasher fan.
In 2007 we finally won something!! We captured the Southeast Division championship and moved on to the playoffs for the first time. The atmosphere in Phillips Arena was truly electric for the first game of the playoffs. I arrived early that night, as I usually do and made my way into the lower bowl to watch warmups. During a regular season game you may see a few dozen hovering around the boards and the seats sparsely filled as people milled about in the concourse getting their beer and pretzels and whatnot. Not on this night, the lower bowl was almost completely filled for the warmup skate and chants of “Let’s Go Thrashers” was deafining, during warmups!! This was a memory I will carry with me for a long, long time and one of my fondest Thrasher memories.
After the quick playoff exit of 2007 we haven’t seen too much success in Atlanta, so why be a fan? Why make your cry Blueland!? The Thrashers are a team that have a lot now to be excited about, we still have one of the most dynamic and exciting player in Ilya Kovalchuk, who now as captain of the team has become even more passionate in his game. We have youngsters Zach Bogosian, this defenseman is tied right now for the lead in scoring amongst all defenseman in the league. Evander Kane, the 19 year old 4th overall pick of last year’s draft came to the team and almost immediately found the score sheet, he’s been exciting to watch and he’s going to be a force to contend with in the years to come.
We don’t have snow here in Atlanta, hell we barely get what most would consider cold weather, but we have some rabid hockey fans and we love our team. The Atlanta Thrashers can boast one of the largest fan organized fan clubs of the entire NHL with a membership now approaching 500. We have a social media presence that is among the top in the league with about 18 blogs now dedicated to the Thrashers, with over 25 writers contributing. Another thing I love about the fans in Atlanta is that you truly feel like family, you see the same people all the time at the arena and it’s always great to run into friends at the game. The Thrashers make it easy to really folllow this team as they keep their practices in Duluth open to the public and free of charge all the time. I make a yearly habit of taking my kids to the first day of training camp in Duluth.
Being a Thrasher fan is often an up and down experience, with both highs and lows, we follow our team and with the closeness we’ve found in each other as fans and the closeness that we have with the team in being able to go to practices, talk to the players, get to know the coaches and management. One day soon this team is going to be great and I know that I’ll have been there for every step!!
Believe in Blueland!!!!
By. Jeff Mauldin of Fanthrashtic
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New post up on #pickmynhlteam. Check it out http://pickmynhlteam.com/2009/11/11/thrasherfan/
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Thanks for the Atlanta Thrashers post! RT @daculafan: New post up on #pickmynhlteam. Check it out http://bit.ly/3e26a2
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Be a Thrashers fan for sure! We have a young hot team that is on the brink of awesomeness. Who cannot love a team with Ilya Kovalchuk on it? We picked up a castoff Rich Peverley from the Nashville Predators and now he is a super stud. We’ve got Zach Bogosian the #3 overalldraft pick from 2008 and Evander Kane, the #4 overall draft pick from 2009.
Though our goal tending sometimes falters, we DO have the most popular back-up goalie in the game, Johan “Moose” Hedberg.
And, like daculafan mentioned, if you come and visit for a game, you can go to practice and just walk up and talk to the guys. Imagine just walking up and chatting with Kovy!
Pick Atlanta!
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Hey Virginia! Thanks for the comment. That’s a good summary of why I should be a fan. That is pretty amazing that you can walk right up and talk to the players. Great to see the pride in your team!
Now you need to find the rest of your Thrasher fans to come vote!
Another post by this same guy that was pretty good.
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