Sale of Thrashers brings hockey back to deprived Winnipeg

Last time I checked, hockey is a game created by Canadians for Canadians, which thankfully caught on here in the States.

Yet the NHL demographics would have you believe something else entirely. Only six of the 30 teams resided north of the border at the beginning of the 2010-11 season.

But now, I am pleased to see hockey return to a market that has craved the sport since the league stripped them of their franchise back in 1996: Winnipeg.

According to The Sports Network, the Canadian equivalent of ESPN, Manitoba-based True North Sports and Entertainment group purchased the Atlanta Thrashers on Tuesday. The purchase included a $60 million relocation fee to move the team to Winnipeg for next season.

It's something that Winnipeg has been waiting for and what the small group of Atlanta fans has feared.

When I reflect on the Winnipeg Jets, I remember future Hall-of-Famer Teemu Selanne scoring 76 goals as a rookie and Bob Essensa in the net during the playoffs. And just as easily, I recall the team's tearful swan song: a playoff defeat at the hands of the mighty Detroit Red Wings.

The team moved to Phoenix due to financial concerns and a belief that hockey needed expansion in primarily southern-American markets. It came at a time where the Canadian dollar was worth just 73 percent of its American counterpart.

In today's market, the Canadian dollar exceeds the value of the American dollar — sad, but indeed true.

Winnipeg could set precedent as other Canadian markets, most notably Quebec City, could try to get themselves a franchise of their own.

As for Atlanta, it's really hard to take pity on a city that has now lost two teams dating back to when the Atlanta Flames bolted for Calgary in 1980. In fact, they're the only city in the modern era to do so.

Last season, the Thrashers missed the playoffs for the 10th time in 11 seasons, and ranked 28th out of the 30 NHL teams in attendance. On average, the Thrashers only filled 72.6 percent of their arena per game.

By contrast, five of the six Canadian franchises finished in the top 11 in attendance, including the lowly Ottawa Senators who had the fifth-worst record in the league.

Hockey in Canada works, plain and simple. As hockey legend Wayne Gretzky said Tuesday, "Because you know in Winnipeg they'll draw 15,000 people a game and that wasn't the case in Atlanta. Winnipeg can count on that."

Atlanta never showed any interest in their team, fans and ownership alike. The owners never put a winning product on the ice and failed to keep a number of star players — namely Ilya Kovalchuk, Dany Heatley and Marian Hossa — for the long haul. To put it lightly, hockey in Atlanta has officially been nothing short of an epic failure.

Twice.

But hope springs eternal in Winnipeg this week. They have their team back and will certainly sell out all of next season. Here's hoping that True North Sports completes the final chapter of this 15-year long struggle the right way: by buying the naming rights to the name "Jets" from the NHL-run Coyotes. Otherwise, it cheapens the victory. The city identifies itself with that team name, much more so than AHL's Manitoba Moose, the team that currently occupies the MTS Centre.

Can you really take a team called the Moose seriously? Didn't think so.

Get it right, boys. You've worked this hard to put the Jets back in Winnipeg. Finish the job.