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Report: Thrashers to Winnipeg a done deal
By
QMI Agency
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  Hockey fans cheer at the corner of Portage and Main in downtown Winnipeg after media reports of the Atlanta Thrashers hockey team moving to Winnipeg, May 19, 2011. (REUTERS/Shaun Best)
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The Atlanta Thrashers have been sold to True North Sports and Entertainment and will be moved to Winnipeg, according to a report on the Globe and Mail's web site.
The sale of the NHL franchise to True North, which owns the MTS Centre and Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League, will be announced Tuesday, the report says, citing unnamed sources.
The sale ends months of speculation about Winnipeg getting an NHL franchise to replace the departed Jets, who left for Phoenix after the 1995-96 season and became the Coyotes.
It first appeared the Coyotes would be headed back to Winnipeg but a deal with the city of Glendale last week scuttled those plans. But the Globe's report says True North was targetting the Thrashers all along and the NHL board of governors approved the sale and transfer of the team months ago, as long as the two sides could negotiate a deal.
