Ep. 13: The Forgotten History of Georgia Hockey with Jay Jarvis
Episode notes
Georgia hockey has a much deeper history than most people realize. In Episode 13 of Peach State Puck, Matteen Rad sits down with Georgia Hockey Museum founder and historian Jay Jarvis to trace the sport from Georgia's first professional hockey game in Macon in 1968 through the Atlanta Flames, Atlanta Knights, Atlanta Thrashers and today's thriving hockey communities across the state. Jarvis shares stories and artifacts from decades of Georgia hockey, including the remarkable collection he has spent years preserving and his memories of watching hockey inside Atlanta's legendary Omni.
The conversation eventually turns from history to one of Georgia hockey's biggest questions: Could the NHL succeed in Atlanta this time? Jarvis explains why the Flames and Thrashers disappeared under very different circumstances, what today's Georgia hockey landscape looks like, and why he believes the market has changed. He also reveals that more than 85 percent of his Georgia hockey collection is now connected to Vernon Krause's The Gathering at South Forsyth project, with hopes that it could someday become a public hockey museum inside a new NHL arena.
From forgotten teams and championship memories to Atlanta's pursuit of another NHL franchise, this episode explores what Georgia's hockey past can teach us about its future.
00:00 - Welcome to Peach State Puck
03:03 - Georgia Hockey News
07:04 - Meet Georgia Hockey Historian Jay Jarvis
12:36 - Preserving Georgia Hockey History
22:17 - Georgia Hockey’s Forgotten Beginnings
31:17 - The Flames, Knights and Thrashers
43:31 - Could the NHL Return to Atlanta?
52:12 - The Growth and Future of Georgia Hockey