As the Semester Ends..

As my social media class wraps up, I now have to report my results on my Hartford Whalers' campaign. The assignment was to use 3 social media websites to support a cause or a company that we care for a lot. To say I care for the Hartford Whalers a lot is an understatement. Though the team only existed for 7 years of my life, it has become a part of me. It is hard to explain how much I love talking about the Hartford Whalers, especially about my interactions with my favorite player, Keith Primeau. Though this semester is ending, I cannot imagine halting my campaign. It has only just begun. It has been such a wonderful experience for me to interact with the other Hartford Whalers' supporters and I cannot believe that I have 42 followers on my Twitter!! I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has conversed with me about the Whalers and I hope that we continue to have each other to talk to about our obsession!!!!!!

#bringbacktheHartfordWhalers!

Another Guest Post About Our Beloved Team!

Steve from Sox & Dawgs originally wrote this post "The All- Whalers Team".  He has decided to share it with us, it originally appeared on Sox & Dawgs on November 22, 2010.

 

You can follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem 

With the re-branding of the Hartford Wolf Pack to the CT Whale just mere days away we would like to present to you the Sox& Dawgs All-Whalers team.  The only requirement for the team is that the players needed more than one year (more than 80 games played) with the franchise to be considered. 

 

As you may know the team started in 1972-73 as the New England Whalers in fledgling World Hockey Association (WHA) and proceeded to win the infant leagues first championship beating the Winnipeg Jets in 5 games.  The team played for one other WHA title in 1978 when Winnipeg returned the favor and swept the Whalers in the finals, 4-0.

 

Upon moving to the NHL the team would no longer enjoy the on ice success it had.  For many years they struggled only winning one NHL playoff series, a three game sweep over the Quebec Nordiques, in 1986 and only winning one Adams Division title in 1987.  The Whalers made the NHL playoffs only 8 times in 18 years and only got beyond the first round that one time.

 

But no matter what the on ice situation was, the team always had players we loved.  Some were great, some were average but they were our Whalers.  One thing you will see when looking at the list, there were some damn good players in Hartford.

 

The Sox & Dawgs All-Whalers team consists of 20 players, we picked 12 forwards, 6 defensemen and 2 goalies along with a general manager and head coach.  Unanimous choices by Ian and I are in bold green. Ties were broken on stats. Here is your team:

 

General Manager - Emile "The Cat" Francis

Head Coach - Jack Kelley

 

Centers (4)

Ron Francis

Ray Ferraro

Dave Keon 

Mike Rogers 

 

Left Wings (4) 

Geoff Sanderson 

Dave Tippett

Jeff O'Neill

Sylvain Turgeon

 

Right Wings (4)

Kevin Dineen

Blaine Stoughton

Gordie Howe 

Pat Verbeek

 

Defensemen (6)

Rick Ley

Ulf Samuelsson

Joel Quenneville

Mark Howe

Gordie Roberts

Adam Burt

 

Goalies (2)

Mike Liut

Sean Burke

 

The following players, coaches and general managers, in no particular order, also received consideration:

 

Centers 
Dean Evason
Mark Johnson
Andrew Cassells
Michael Nylander
Bobby Holik

Left Wings
John Anderson
Pat Boutette
George Lyle
Larry Pleau
Nick Fotiu
Mike Antonovich
Andre LaCroix

Right Wings
Scott Young
Tim Sheehy
Warren Miller
Jack Carlson
John McKenzie
Torrie Robertson
Stu Gavin
Robert Kron
Paul MacDermid
Ray Neufeld

Defensemen
Dave Babych
Glen Wesley
Sylvain Cote
Brad Selwood
Ron Plumb
Thommy Abrahamsson
Ted Green
Risto Siltanen
Alan Hansleben
Randy Ladoucer

Goalies
Greg Millen
Al Smith
Peter Sidorkiewicz

Coach
Jack Evans
Ron Ryan
Jimmy Roberts
Don Blackburn
Harry Neale

 

GM Jack Kelley
Eddie Johnston
Larry Pleau
Brian Burke
Jim Rutherford

 

Long Live The Hartford Whalers

When I created a Twitter account based on bringing the Hartford Whalers back, I was not sure what to expect. Would people care? Would there actually be people that were still die-hard fans and craving the return of the Hartford Whalers like me? Since I joined Twitter and began blogging, I have been pleasantly surprised. Several people have engaged in Twitter conversations with me and have been excited about my attempt to blog about this idea for school... the belief that the Whalers will someday return to Hartford is still in the air! It is hard to explain the excitement/joy that I feel about this. Some have described us crazy Whalers fanatics as a cult...but I have to ask one question: have you ever seen a group of fans this passionate about a team that no longer exists?

Whenever I see someone wearing a Whalers jersey or t-shirt, I always say hello and attempt to tell them that I too am a lunatic fan! Or...if someone is wearing a Bruins jersey or shirt, I tell them that it would be better if they were representing Hartford!

Do any of you do this too or am I alone in my crazy antics?! Comment back with your stories!

Thanks for the support and long live the Hartford Whalers!!

Guest Post from @djstevem

Here is a guest post from a fellow Whalers' Fan @djstevem! Thanks so much!!! :)

The State of Connecticut is full of long suffering Hartford Whalers fans, like Ian and myself.  For those of you who aren’t aware the Whalers left town in 1997 when Carpetbagger Peter Karmanos, who had come from Michigan and bought the team, moved it to North Carolina and re-named them the Carolina Hurricanes.  It’s a move that still stings.

In fact after disparaging the ‘Canes head d-bag in a tweet I heard from one of his cousins who tried to inform me what a generous and nice guy Karmanos is.  I told her I felt sorry for her due to the relation and reiterated that he is still hated and despised in CT. 

But I digress, the fact is many of us still love the Whalers and threw my new friend Brittany Auerbach who runs the BA Loves the Whalers blog come these two items.

http://baloveswhalers.blogspot.com

First are Hartford Whalers sneakers designed on a pair of Nike Air Jordan Retro 1.  Uber cool high tops in Whalers colors rocking the Whalers logo.  Nice.

http://www.caseycustomsneakers.com/news/2011/03/hartford-whalers/

The second item on the Whale is a book written by Andover MA resident, Robert Muldoon.  Muldoon worked his way through his college years and early twenty’s by working part-time for the Whalers.  Most of his duties consisted of driving the new cars on ice between periods for promotions.  His book: Brass Bonanza Plays Again: How Hockey’s Greatest Goon Brought Back Mark Twain and a Dead Team – And Made a City Believe Again was published in January of this year. 

The book which took nine years to write, “is a mix of real characters such as Ron Francis, Kevin Dineen and Ulf Samuelsson along side a fictional goon who goes from being homeless and living under a bridge to center ice with a reunited Whalers team”.

While working for the club he even wrote articles for the Sunday Hartford Courant and Goal Magazine. Muldoon worked for the team from 1984-1994 and was heartbroken when the Carpetbagger run away to Carolina with his favorite team.  When the team left he even attended the “Irish Wake” with the city journalists at a local bar. 

He is selling his Book through Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

http://patch.com/A-fMcn

There is a picture of the book cover along with that article/website.

The History of the BB

The Brass Bonanza was made famous by the Hartford Whalers. Whenever I hear the song, I feel a smile begin to creep onto my face. It reminds me of so many happy memories during my childhood. Typically, when I would hear the song as a kid, it meant only one thing: THE WHALERS SCORED!!!!!!

So, as I am back from spring break, I decided a fitting first entry back would discuss the history of one of my favorite songs. The song was first recognized after a game played on April 11th, 1975. The Whalers were part of the WHA at the time and were playing against the Minnesota Saints. The record for the most penalties in a WHA was reached in this game at the Hartford Civic Center. The total was 41! Unbelievable. According to this blog post, http://www.brassbonanza.com/hcc/whalers-audio/whalers-vs-saints, there was a total of 217 minutes of penalties! Since this point, this song always recognized a goal scored for our beloved Hartford team.

The song was last officially played at the final Hartford Whalers game on April 13th, 1997. The last goal of the game was scored by Kevin Dineen.

I actually interestingly found out that the Brass Bonanza was played once again in 2006 before a second round playoff opener of the Carolina Hurricanes against the New Jersey Devils. For some reason, it bothers me to hear that...

...Another sad post by a fan still obsessed with the Hartford Whalers!

#bringbacktheWhalers!

Did I mention that I love Keith Primeau? Did I mention that he has a younger brother, Wayne Primeau, who also was in the NHL? In the 1996-1997 season, Wayne Primeau played for the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres and the Whalers played on April 7th, 1997. In the 2nd period, at 17:00, the Primeau brothers took part in an epic fight. Here is a video from youtube:

This was towards the end of the Hartford Whalers. However, it is a memorable fight that will always be associated with the last games played at the Hartford Civic Center. I thought it would be nice to show some history of Whalers games that I remember and even those I don't.

I have a new topic that I would like to discuss now. I have began to use a Twitter account to try to gain some attention about bringing back the Hartford Whalers. Since I am fairly new at Twitter and receive notifications from my personal Twitter account on my smartphone, I unfortunately did not see some replies to a previous tweet until today. However, I received so many more responses than I initially expected from people interested in the Whalers returning to Hartford. I can't believe it! I am so excited now; we definitely will be able to get #bringbacktheWhalers to trend on Twitter. Who knows, maybe the NHL will recognize our requests and a team will consider moving back to Hartford. None of our efforts will hurt.

Brass Bonanza

A Whalers Fan 'Till The Day I Die

...I am a die hard Whalers fan. You might not believe me, but I can prove it. When my dad first moved to Connecticut in the 80's, he and a few of his friends decided to share season tickets for the Whalers. There were 2 tickets, so my mom used to attend most of the games with my father. When I was 4 or 5, my dad decided to bring me to a game instead of my mother. After that one time, I was addicted. I had found my first hobby. Every picture or story I had to complete in school included some aspect of the Hartford Whalers. Obsession was an understatement. My lovely reverie ended way too soon; The Hartford Whalers last game at the Hartford Civic Center was April 13th, 1997 when I was 6 years old. It was my father's 40th birthday. I bawled my eyes out when the game was over. I knew that a part of my life was ending. The next season, my beloved team switched fan-bases and became the Carolina Hurricanes.

My favorite player at the time was a recently traded Canadian from Detroit. His name was Keith Primeau. He played the position of center, which was likely why I immediately chose him as my favorite. So, for my 7th birthday, my father sent a letter to the Hurricanes organization and asked them to pass it on to Keith Primeau. He included some pictures of me and mentioned how much I loved Primeau. So, Primeau decided to try to call me for my birthday, however, my father had only provided his office phone number. The receptionist at my dad's office mentioned that a "Keith Primeau" had called and left a message for Brittany's birthday. My dad was astonished and so upset that he missed the call. He contacted the Hurricanes organization again and gave Primeau our home phone number asking him to try again. So, the day before I began third grade, Keith Primeau called my house. I could not contain my excitement. I paced around the entire house talking to him on the phone for a while. Needless to say, it was the best phone call I have ever had. Primeau made a little girl's dreams come true. He even sent me back the pictures my dad had sent him with his autograph. To this day, it is still prominently displayed in my bedroom. Here is a picture:

Since then, I wrote my college essay on how Keith Primeau inspired me and how much of a hero he was to me. Maybe I sound over obsessed, but do you ever remember back to  your childhood heroes? Did they care enough to seek you out and make you feel special? Because of that, I will be ever grateful to Keith Primeau. Who knows, maybe through this blog that I am creating for class, I can generate some buzz and even possibly get a team to consider coming back to Hartford?

Regardless, until the day I die, I will be a Whalers fan.