Carolina on my mind.

[carellus]

After last minute heroics by Staal, the Carolina Hurricanes are coming to the Garden.

I was hoping for a matchup with either the Rangers or Carolina, and let Washington, Pittsburgh, or New Jersey (whichever two) beat each other in the semifinals.

I must say though, how much MORE awesome would this next round be if they were still the Whalers?

Comments

[indolentmick]

Hold on, that's who they became?

I thought Hartford was just one of those franchises that became defunct due to lack of interest, a la the Washington Senators.

[carellus]

Nope, they were the Whale back in the day.

I expect to see plenty of people banging around the Garden this weekend wearing their old Hartford jerseys.

Big reason for their leaving was that they couldn't negotiate a new stadium, it was the smallest in the league when they left I believe. Being squeezed between the Rangers and Bruins markets didn't help either, but they had a following. I'd like to see them come back one day.

[indolentmick]

Did they have a lot of fans living in the state itself, because I can't imagine there being a huge demand in Connecticut for a professional sports franchise?

[carellus]

Well, the Whalers had been there from 1972-1997.

Up through '79 they were part of the WHA (World Hockey Association), but when that League folded, they were one of the four teams that were brought into the NHL (Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques, and Edmonton Oilers were the others).

Yeah, they did have a following in CT, afterall, they were the only professional team! CT is also sort of in that limbo where it's technically part of New England, but it's so close to New York.....

Yeah, they were a part of the local lore. Granted, I'm a Bruins fan, but it was cool having two teams in the region, especially since you could go to a "road" game that only took you 90 minutes to go to.

If they could have gotten a new arena, they'd have stayed I'm pretty sure.