For those of you who may not know me quite so well, I'm a pretty hard-core hockey fan. I love the sport in person and on TV and do my best to bring new fans to the sport. I've had the good fortune of attending both Stanley Cup Playoff and Finals games and can say that the atmosphere at those contests rivals any sport.
I grew up in Minnesota, hockey country USA, so hockey is in my blood. I didn't play a whole lot of it in my youth but I did grow up a Minnesota North Stars and Golden Gopher fan. The 1980 Olympics and the Miracle on Ice took things to a new level. Several of the players and coach went to high school in Minnesota or played for the University of Minnesota so it was easy to be a fan. When they pulled off the upset of a USSR team I highly respected, I was amazed. To bring home the gold was icing on the cake. A few of those gold-medal players went on to join the North Stars shortly after the Olympics were over.
But in 1993 tragedy struck. The owner of the North Stars decided he was going to move the team South to Dallas. It didn't matter that fan support was extremely strong in Minnesota or that hockey was a large part of the local culture; he simply wanted the bigger money Dallas and its more modern arena could offer. I decided I couldn't support the team any longer, so I broke my emotional ties with the franchise and went in search of a new team to root for.
At this time I was living in Atlanta and there was no NHL franchise. I supported the local IHL (minor league) franchise, the Atlanta Knights, but still wanted an NHL team to root for. I picked the Detroit Red Wings for many reasons. First and foremost they were a team with a lot of young talent and were fun to watch, but they also had deep hockey traditions and solid ownership committed to winning. I joined on at just the right time as they have been one of the most successful franchises ever since.
Fast forward a couple of years to 1999 and Atlanta finally gets an NHL franchise, the Atlanta Thrashers. There was never a doubt I was going to be a fan of this team. I'd been waiting years to see NHL games in person once again and I had a great opportunity since the company I work for bought season tickets.
I've been going to Thrasher games for 8 seasons now, seeing roughly 25 games a year. It has been painful, at times, but is great to see NHL in person once again. Although I still root very hard for the Red Wings, I root even harder for the Thrashers. I believe the tipping point may have come two years ago when I honestly admitted the Red Wings took a back seat to the Thrashers. The emotional tie is simply stronger when I see the games in person. The fact that my daughter can share that experience makes it that much nicer.
So, you'll be seeing posts about both the Thrashers and Red Wings over the course of the next season and beyond. If it seems a bit conflicted, perhaps this long story will shed some light on the method to this madness.
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