Southern hockey heads back up North

Atlanta just does not seem to have the ability to get people interested in hockey. For the second time in the past 30 years another National Hockey League team will be relocating from The Peach State up to The Great White North, according to ESPN.

It was announced this week that the Atlanta Thrashers have been sold to a group out of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The city used to be home to the Winnipeg Jets, but they left for Phoenix in 1996, the site reports.

Experts believe that the move is a result of poor ownership in Atlanta, according to NPR. However, there is also a small hockey community down South. Most children do not grow up playing the sport, thereby making it difficult to build a connection to the people. Competing with professional football, baseball and basketball teams seems to have been too difficult for the sport to survive in the warm climate.

"There was very little connection with the community, no grassroots hockey programs to speak of, no fostering of the real kind of connection that is so important, whether it's a hockey team or any pro sports franchise, to thrive," Scott Burnside, a national hockey writer for ESPN, told NPR.  

More News