With Thursday night’s game hitting a record low for attendance and tonight being against the Stanley Cup Champs, hopefully we will be able to break 10,000 for only the second time this season. I don’t know, it continues to bother me, the low representation, knowing full and well the highest attending game was the home opener against the Capitals and second was the Buffalo game with mostly Buffalo fans in the seats. It gets rather frustrating hearing the visiting teams victories sounding much louder than the home team, but hey, if you have been in Atlanta long, it seems to be the trend.
We are, again, a new team. With just over a decade of play, we haven’t really been able to establish much. Our one solid chance we blew it right up front. It IS frustrating, and the franchise has been trying to be as proactive as possible in trying to make things better.
This season we are starting off pretty fresh. And in all honesty, from the information I was reading during the off season, there weren’t many people expecting the Thrashers to perform as well as we have so far. Take it for what it is, we are a new team. “Everyone” said that we were going to be dead last, there were no hopes for us this year, and I am certain there were numerous people who wrote us off completely. Thursday night the Thrashers were shut out for the first time in 6 games. That is saying a lot for a team who hasn’t walked away with 30+ shots on goal in at least 6 games and leading the league in the number of goals against them.
There are plenty of reasons to be discouraged about the Thrashers right now, but again, they are a new team. There are players out there fighting as hard as their body can muster to try to get a win. With numerous back to back games and most all games squeezed within 4 nights, it is amazing we have been holding our ground as we have.
The Atlanta Thrashers, for the first time in years, are operating as a TEAM. And it seems like this group of guys actually understands what that word means. It is going to take some time, no one ever said otherwise. It is going to take a lot of dedication, not just with the players and staff, but with everyone. As a Thrashers fan, you have every right to feel disappointed, you have every right to get frustrated, but remember, we are a team that is rebuilding. We are a team that many are still saying will never make it anywhere. But right now we are sitting in third place in our division and there is just 4 points between us and the Capitals, who currently sit in first place in the conference. 4 points between us and the one team who has beaten us every game in the last 8 meetings, until the first game this season.
Tonight the Blackhawks come to town. With 4 former players currently key additions on the Atlanta Roster, tonight’s game could get interesting. At the very least, I hope to see at least 9,999 other fans there tonight cheering our home team on. It would be awesome to see a three star evening starring a few ex-Blackhawks for sure!