The NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers moved to the new home of the Winnipeg Jets 2011 They will be back on the ice in Georgia next month thanks to the ECHL’s Atlanta Gladiators.
The Gladiators, a minor-league affiliate of the Arizona CoyotesWhen they take on the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, Dec. 16, in Duluth,,, will assume “the personas of the Thrashers”.
The Gladiators’ will be wearing Thrashers jerseys limited to 100 pieces that will then be auctioned to fans. Every fan will receive Thrashers rally towels. There will also be Thrashers T-shirts for sale and Thrashers pucks. Thrash, the mascot of the now-defunct NHL team, will be making an appearance. Video and ribbon board graphics will transform into Thrashers graphics in an effort to recreate the “Blueland” vibe from the team’s Atlanta home games.
One thing that the Gladiators and Thrashers share is their PA announcer Steve Craig.
The ECHL team has held “hockey heritage” nights in the past to honor IHL’s Atlanta Knights and NHL’s Atlanta Flames. Anthony Schaff was the team’s director, game operations. He suggested that they focus on the Thrashers to secure intellectual property rights.
Mike Folta, Gladiators’ director of intellectual property, said that the Gladiators initially reached out the Jets to get clearance. However, they were redirected to NHL to gain access to the intellectual rights to the Thrashers for a single game. The NHL’s director for intellectual property had to hear the team’s reasons for wanting to host the event and the plans it had for it. The NHL granted the Gladiators access in October.
The Gladiators will look and play like the Thrashers, which is a good thing. From 1999 when the NHL expansion team joined the League, Atlanta finished at over.500 points percentage until 2011, when they moved to Winnipeg. The Thrashers lost in a sweep to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs. New York Rangers 2007