"He tried to put it on, but it was too small," said Cowart's wife, Cindy. "So I wore it."

Alan Cowart, who settled for a new Thrashers jersey as his attire, reminisced about his hockey roots before heading into the $213 million Philips Arena, where the Thrashers opened their first season against the New Jersey Devils.

The Devils won 4-1, but the sellout crowd of 18,545 seemed happy just to have a team again, saluting the Thrashers with a standing ovation in the final seconds.

As a child, Cowart lived across the street from Cliff Fletcher, the Flames' general manager, and was a friend of Fletcher's son, Chuck.

"We used to go to the games together," Cowart recalled. "I have all the sticks from all those old players in the '70s."

The Flames moved to Calgary in 1980 after eight years in Atlanta, leaving a void in Cowart's life that wasn't filled until Saturday night. He is hopeful that this second foray into the NHL will last a lot longer.

"The expectations are high," he said. "Everyone here wants a winner. We've got to give them a chance. But it's great to have hockey back. This is very exciting."

He wasn't the only one sharing that feeling. The cheering started as soon as the Zamboni drove on the ice and it took less than a minute for the first "Let's go, Thrashers" chant to reverberate through the spectacular new arena.

New York native Gary Colangelo watched from the top row, having convinced two of his friends to take in their first NHL game. They paid $10 for their seats and considered it a bargain.

"You can't beat it," Colangelo said. "There's not a bad seat in the arena."

Two seats away, Ted Charette sipped on a beer and pondered the view. He joked about needing to bring a tissue to deal with his nosebleed, but actually was surprised by how close the ice seemed from so far away. Also, there are benefits to sitting in the cheap seats.

"More money for beer," Charette said.

After a raucous pregame ceremony augmented by rock music, fireworks, lasers and team mascot "flying" in on a cable from the roof of the building, the Thrashers gave a nod to the city's hockey roots.

Bernie Geoffrion, the beloved first coach of the Flames, was invited to take part in the ceremonial puck drop. Still an Atlanta resident, the Boomer received a standing ovation as he strolled to center ice for the ceremony with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, Atlanta mayor Bill Campbell and team officials.

When the new team was introduced, the biggest cheers were reserved for goaltender Damian Rhodes, captain Kelly Buchberger and first-round pick Patrik Stefan.

After the introductions were finished, the announcer induced even more cheers when he proclaimed, "Atlanta, you now live in a hockey town!"

Josh Rosenzweig, a Boston native who is moving to Atlanta in January, purchased a pair of the high-priced club seats and brought his fiance, Christine Kostos, to her first hockey game.

"This is so exciting," she said, adjusting a new Thrashers cap her fiance had just purchased for her. "I had it written into the pre-nups."

Rosenzweig wasn't aware of Atlanta's hockey history.

"I don't remember the Atlanta Flames at all," he said. "The Calgary Flames came from Atlanta? I had no idea. Wow."