When a sports team packs up and leaves town, the fandom doesn’t usually follow.
Talk to Montreal Expos fans, and you likely won’t find many rooting hard for the Washington Nationals.
When a team finds immediate success in a new city, fans in the abandoned town are often left feeling spiteful (hello, Quebec City.)
Heck, when the first iteration of the Winnipeg Jets fled to the desert, most fans here instead chose to hold out hope that one day they would have a team to call their own.
In 2011, that happened, when the Atlanta Thrashers packed up and moved to Winnipeg. Dr. John Lipman had season tickets during the team’s time in Georgia, but he still roots hard for the franchise.
“We had great fans in Atlanta and we were just as heartbroken to lose the team as you guys did the first go-round,” Lipman said. “I still follow them, I watch every game remotely, so I’ve seen every game this year. We miss them but I’m going to follow them, and hopefully this is the start of a huge run for them this year.”
Lipman made the trip to Winnipeg to be a part of Wednesday’s Whiteout, witnessing the first ever postseason win for a franchise that lost its first eight chances.
“I decided to reach out to a colleague who I’ve never met, Dr. Brian Hardy who’s over at Health Sciences Centre,” Lipman explained.
“I said, ‘Look, I’m coming up, do you know of any line on tickets?’ He said, ‘Well, I’ve got season tickets. You can join my family, we’d love to have you, if you come and speak at HSC.’ So I’ve giving grand rounds at noontime to the physicians over there.”
Four members of the Jets are holdovers from the Thrashers days: Blake Wheeler, Dustin Byfuglien, Bryan Little and Toby Enstrom.
“It’s fun watching them still play, I saw them when they were still Thrashers,” Lipman remembered. “The team is really deep this year. Really love watching them. They’re exciting, they’re fun, they’re fast. It’s a blast. This is the best team I think they’ve ever had.”
Lipman grew up in upstate New York and has been to Canada before, but this is the first time he’s ever visited Winnipeg.
He won’t be going to game two Friday night, but he’s optimistic he’ll have reason to visit again before the playoffs are through.
“I would love to come back. If they make a deep run, I’m going to see them. Next round, they’ll probably play Nashville, that’s an easy drive for me,” Lipman said. “I’ll be watching, either in person or on my laptop. One way or the other, we’re going all the way, hopefully.”
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