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!