Thrashers.Today.Com

By Bud L. Ellis
thrashers.today.com

ATLANTA – If you blinked, you missed Glen Metropolit’s first go-around as a hockey player in Atlanta.

I know I did … and I spent some time writing about the team he played with here way back in 1995-96. Metro laced ’em up for one game with the old Atlanta Knights of the old International Hockey League. I wrote about the Knights for my college newspaper, and while names like Stan Drulia, Chris LiPuma and Mike Greenlay pop to mind whenever I think of the Knights, Metro’s name escaped me.

Guess I was covering something else the night he skated for the Knights.

Anyway, I do vividly remember Metro’s second stint in Atlanta. Playing for the Thrashers in 2006-07, he scored 12 goals and tallied 16 assists in 57 games, as Atlanta missed the playoffs by the slimmest of margins in a season that saw the Thrashers employ, I don’t know, 19 different goaltenders due to injury?

But I digress.

Why am I writing about Metro in the middle of the night, when I should be sleeping? Two reasons. One, I was thinking about former Thrashers’ players who have made an impact on the team and fan base in a positive light. Heaven knows we hear so much about the folks who do wrong, who crash cars, who get in trouble with the law, who brush off fans. Metro always was a fan favorite, one who would sign autographs and go out of his way to make fans feel like they were part of the team. He did that in Atlanta during his one season with the Thrashers.

Two, I found a story about Metro’s rough childhood as I was searching for info about his career, and that one game he played with the Knights way back when. I didn’t find anything about his time with the Knights, but the story about what Metro endured as a child and the plight of his imprisoned brother really moved me. I think you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I did. Metro’s in Philly now, hoping to push the Flyers toward the Stanley Cup.

Back to the Thrashers, the prospects team hits the ice tonight for the championship game of the Traverse City Prospect Evaluation Tournament. Some really fine play by the younger Thrashers during their three games in round-robin play. Hopefully they can finish it off with a win in the final tonight against Dallas.

Training camp opens Saturday. Yep, we’re getting close to hockey! I get the sense from talking to folks here who do follow the Thrashers – yes, for those of you not in Atlanta, there are really hockey fans in Atlanta – that this team is going to be better than all the pundits and experts think. I hope so, at least.

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