It has been nearly 30 years since the Hartford Whalers hockey team left Connecticut, but that didn’t stop more than a dozen of Whalers fans from packing into a sports bar in Windsor Locks in mid-April.
The group celebrated the 29th anniversary of the team's final game.
It was a Monday evening and planes departing Bradley International Airport were heard overhead outside Bobby V’s Restaurant and Sports Bar.
Members of the Hartford Whalers Booster Club were decked out in blue and green Whalers gear, while sitting around a conference-style table, laden with half-drunk beers and cups of Diet Coke.
Booster Club President Mark Anderson raised his glass to toast the Whalers’ last game. It was in 1997, against the Tampa Bay Lighting, at the now defunct Hartford Civic Center.
“We always toast the boys, in honor of the last game,” Anderson said. “Twenty-nine years. God bless them. We miss you forever. Go Whale. Long live the Whale.”
The Whalers rebranded as the Carolina Hurricanes and moved hundreds of miles away from Connecticut. Now, the Carolina Hurricanes are a favorite for the Stanley Cup. But, the original fanbase back in Connecticut is still getting over the loss of their team.
Departure of the Whale
Big companies being unwilling to buy into the team and outdated facilities are what led to the Whale’s departure from Connecticut.
Many Whalers fans made the shift in allegiance to the Hurricanes, but for some, it just wasn’t the same.
Booster Club Secretary Jim Lamoureux was a Whalers season ticket holder and said he still misses the camaraderie.
“You got to know people like, there they were kind of like friends and family, you said to the people behind you, ‘How'd your kid do in their little league game this week? Or How's your wife feeling she missed the last game?’” Lamoureux said.
The Whalers’ lasting legacy
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam often sports a Whalers pin and residents ask him to do what he can to bring the team back to Connecticut.
“When I was running for mayor, people would stop me on the street and say, ‘Bring back the Whalers,’” Arulampalam said. “‘Do whatever you can to get the Whalers back.’”
Over the years, the Whalers’ fanbase has remained strong. Whalers merchandise is still some of the best selling gear across the National Hockey League (NHL), according to Arulampalam.
“It kills me that we are a city with this size media market and no professional sports teams, and I continue to believe that we would not just be able to support a major league sports franchise,” Arulampalam said. “But I think most major league sports franchises would be able to thrive here in the city.”
Exploring every avenue to get a major league, professional sports team back in Hartford is one of Arulampalam’s goals, according to him.
As for why the Whalers still have such a strong fanbase nearly 30 years later, experts like Kurt Badenhausen, a sports valuations reporter with Sportico, say it comes down to nostalgia and city pride.
“Sports are emotional, and so people still gravitate to the teams they rooted for as kids or even adults, or the memories they shared with their children or their parents at these games,” Badenhausen said.
A Future for the Whalers
Hartford Whalers co-founder Howard Baldwin wants the NHL to bring the franchise back to Connecticut. But, it’s out of his hands as the League owns the rights to the team’s name and logo.
“I'm not afraid to say that they never should have been allowed to leave, and that's one of the sad moments in my life,” Baldwin said. “But also to the people back there. You never want to give up. Who's to say?”
Baldwin hopes to form a sports memorabilia museum in Hartford, selling fresh Whalers gear and keeping alive the hope for a return of the Whale.
Whalers fan and Booster Club member Mark Rankin is eager for the museum.
Rankin is an avid Whalers memorabilia collector, and owns thousands of Whalers-themed items. He has everything from unused first season tickets to player’s jerseys.
Rankin hopes his collection can be used in a future museum or catalogued to show the history of his favorite team. But, Rankin isn’t sure what that future may look like.
“That's what I'm trying to figure out, because it's like it needs to go somewhere,” Rankin said. “I've accumulated all this stuff. It is kind of a timeline. Where does it go next? It's in the works.”
Rankin’s been a Whalers fan since high school. However, he isn’t certain what keeps him so attached to the team.
“They were regular people, not hockey players,” Rankin said. “It's really difficult to explain, because you go, ‘Why don't we just give it all up and throw it all away?’ But I can’t. Maybe just because it's the emotional attachment to the team.”
