Peverley journeys from non-traditional markets to hockey hub
After witnessing the well-documented struggles of franchises
such as the Thrashers and Predators, many NHL fans often lump all
teams in non-traditional markets together.
Sometimes the criticisms posed and the objection to squads being
placed in certain cities is justified. But in other cases, teams
with a raucous, loyal fan base are unjustifiably raked over the
coals.
Perhaps no one knows this better than Rich Peverley, who has
suited up for both the former and the latter in Atlanta and
Nashville, respectively, and now finds himself in an Original Six
city with the Bruins.
“The first thing is you’re selling out every
game,” Peverley said when asked to compare Boston to his
previous two stops. “There were nights in Atlanta where we
weren’t getting too many fans. Whenever you have a soldout
building every night, it’s a great feeling.”
Peverley certainly won’t sugarcoat how rough things were for
the Thrashers, who relocated to Winnipeg and rebranded themselves
as the Jets for the current campaign.
“It just didn’t work out,” he said of the
organization’s time in Georgia. “Maybe if the team had
put a winner on the ice, there would’ve been a little bit
better following.”
Conversely, the 29-year-old forward won’t let anyone
unfairly put down the Predators, who have done a tremendous job of
spreading the region’s passion for a once entirely unfamiliar
sport.
“Playing in a hockey market has been a goal of mine, but I
think people don’t give Nashville enough credit,”
Peverley said. “I think it is a good hockey market and they
always seem to get good crowds, and their crowds are
great.”
While the Predators don’t have a sellout streak as lengthy
as the defending champs to boast about — having sold nearly
96 percent of available tickets through their first nine games of
the season after a franchise-best 94.3 percent in 2010-11 —
business seems to be doing quite well in a spot that many thought
never should have been given a hockey team to root for in the first
place.
This article originally appeared in the December 2011 issue
of New England Hockey Journal.
Jesse Connolly can be reached at jconnolly@hockeyjournal.com