Last Rites for the Thrashers (?)

Today is the day that we find out the fate of the Atlanta Thrashers.  As you may (or may not) have read in some of my posts, I talk about some of the reasons for the Thrashers' failure in Atlanta.  I can assure that the picture above has nothing to do with it, or for that matter, it has absolutely nothing to do with this piece, I just wanted an excuse to post that picture.  Back to the topic at hand, I won't rehash any of what I said in my previous pieces as to why the Thrashers may soon become property of an ownership group in Winnipeg that will bring the team back to the city that lost its Jets in 1996.  However, what can be said is that though the number of fans who attended the games in Atlanta were less than all but two teams this season, you cannot expect fans to get behind a team if the ownership doesn't care about the team, and that is exactly why the Thrashers' run in the NHL was pretty much a disaster from the start.  With the exception of the 2006-07 season, the Thrashers hadn't experienced much success when it comes to even making the playoffs.  Sure, the fans deserve some blame, namely the ones who didn't show up to the games, but the reality is that the onus falls on ownership failing to give the fans a reason to come out to games.  Carolina, Nashville, and Tampa Bay have all given fans reasons to care about their teams.  What was Atlanta's pitch to get fans out to games?  Can't think of one?  Neither can I, and now, the sad saga of the Atlanta Thrashers is almost certain to be buried with the likes of the Kansas City Scouts, Colorado Rockies, California Golden Seals, Atlanta Flames, and the Cleveland Barons as teams that failed to get fans in a ten year period, or thereabouts.

Update: the official announcement of the fate of the Thrashers won't be today, according to sources.  Official word has been pushed back to a date yet to be determined.

Colorado Rockies hockey

Long before the Colorado Rockies became a baseball team, there was a hockey team with that name. Unlike the baseball team however, the original incarnation didn't fare so well and were eventually moved to New Jersey and became the Devils. Some back story on this team, the Rockies came to be in 1976, when the team relocated from Kansas City and were the Rockies until 1982. They only made the playoffs once, after the 1977-78 season, when they were ousted in the first round. That year, the team amassed their highest point total with 59, but had their highest win total in 1980-81 with 22. The franchise is best known for having a coach by the name of Don Cherry during its existence, and his tenure was summed up best by his clahses with goaltender Hardy Astrom. Ultimately, unstable ownership forced the team to move from Denver, and the franchise is all but forgotten due to the rise of the baseball team that has the Rockies name now and the Colorado Avalanche hockey team that has had success in the past.

As for the Rockies' jerseys, they kept the color scheme that the Scouts had during their two year run. Unlike the Scouts' jerseys, the Rockies' jerseys weren't a giant mess of the primary colors. The logo had its take on the Colorado flag, and the overall jersey design was rather simple. This was a marked improvement over the Scouts jersey that was deemed one of the ugliest jerseys in a poll a few years back.