Thrashers Take Flight to Ottawa, Battle Savage Loons

Is there anything more terrifying than a menacing, mysterious loon lurching forth from a lake to take flight?? Okay, perhaps the word 'terrifying' doesn't quite capture the emotion that is conjured up by a water-dwelling bird raising up and launching itself from the surface like a laser-guided missle. However, the sight of such in nature CAN BE quite inspirational, if you are the weepy sort who gets choked up when observing animals of ornithological grace and grandeur. Where am I going with this?? I have no freakin' idea.

In my lame attempt to put together a mildly intriguing game preview, I thought of team names and official state birds. Haters of hockey in the Sun-Belt often point to our amusing nickname in a derisive manner to prop up their own arguments about why the city of Atlanta isn't deserving of a hockey team. But just think, the storied Ottawa franchise could have emerged from early 20th century history as just a footnote of failed hockey franchises past. And to make matters worse, the "Senators" moniker (that is just sooooo freakin' original and creative by the way) may have never come to fruition had the team's trio of founders chosen to honor the official bird of the province of Ontario: the Common Loon. I reckon the frightening name of Ottawa Screaming Loons was high atop the list of nicknames considered by the founding fathers in 1883 when the team launched its inaugural campaign as a member of the Ontario Hockey Association. Frankly, I don't know what was wrong with Ottawa Fur Trappers or Ottawa River Otters.

At any rate, the great fans of the Ottawa Senators should remind themselves of the financial troubles that beset and eventually ravaged the first NHL iteration of the Ottawa franchise -- the Great Depression of the 1930's eventually doomed the existence of four teams leaving the NHL with the "Original Six" -- before casting any stones towards the city of Atlanta in Sun-Belt expansion debates. During the mid-1920's and into the next decade, the Senators' owners were besieged by a protracted period of economic strife -- after several Stanley Cup winning seasons I might add -- seeking financial assistance as early as 1927 and moving to St. Louis in 1934 due to their small market issues. Today, we are seeing the impact of another deep recession on ticket sales and gate receipts in roughly 2/3 of NHL markets. Outside of Montreal, Toronto, Vancover, Calgary, Chicago, Philly, New York and Pittsburgh, most teams will probably feel a significant financial pinch to their bottom lines if they haven't already.

Although the economic situation of today is a definite challenge for the NHL, the fact remains that Sun-Belt hockey is here to stay for the forseeable future and Canadian hockey fans should work harder to accept the current NHL landscape of 30 teams. While there are a handful of struggling franchises in the South, like Phoenix, Florida, Atlanta and even Dallas, I cannot fathom more than two franchises ever migrating back to the Great White North. And one of them may very well end up being the New York Islanders if they can't get a new arena built on Long Island. Atlanta's fan-base may be relatively small, but the potential for growth is still quite good in a growing city of 5 million people, many of whom are transplants from the North. But alas, such a debate has been waged ad-nauseam in many an internet forum and it wasn't my intention to get into that discussion at any level of depth.

In conclusion, all I wanted to do was set the table for a hockey match pitting two teams from two very different places. Both cities offer sanctuary to very innocent looking birds that represent their respective homes as the "official bird of the state". What type of hostile confrontation ensues when a Brown Thrasher happens upon a Common Loon?? Who the hell knows? I reckon they probably keep to themselves for the most part if they ever come into contact at all. But tonite, when the Senators welcome the American hockey ambassador Thrashers from the capital of Georgia, we must all keep in mind that the Thrashers are most certainly a worthy adversary for the great, historic franchise hailing from proud Ottawa. All you need to know is what happened last season when the Thrashers managed to take the victory spoils in 3 out of 4 contests outscoring the Sens by an overall margin of 16 to 7 in the process.