the begining1972-1979....the whalers franchise was born in november 1971 when the world hockey association awarded a franchise to new england businessman howard bladwin,john coburn,godfrey wood,and william e. barnes to begin play in boston.the team began auspiciously,signing former detroit red wings star tom webster,hard rock boston bruins defensemen rick ley,jim dorey,and brad selwood,and former pittsburgh penguins goatender al smith.new england also signed an unusally large number of american players including massachusetts natives and former US olympic hockey team members.larry pleau(who had been a montreal canadiens the pervious season)kevin ahearn,john cunniff and paul harley.two ex US olympians on the whalers roster(minnesota natives timothy sheey and tommy williams)had spent a significant amount of time in boston with boston college and the bruins,respectively.the whalers would have the WHA's best regular-season record in the 1972-73 WHA season,with webster leading the team in scoring and rampaging through the playoffs,and behind ex boston university coach jack kelley would win the inaugural avco world trophy,the WHA championship....................for the first 2 and half years of thier existence,the whalers played home games at the boston arena,boston garden and the big E coliseum in west springfield.however with sagging attendance related to the ebbing of early 1970's hockey boom in the boston area,ownership decided to move the franchise to the connecicut,an area which,expect for various minor league teams in new havenmhad been largely bereft of pro hockey.the whalers' ownership group was attracted to the city of hartford.with many large corporations and an area rich in hockey tradition,hartford was seen as a natural choice............on january 11th1975,the team played it's first game in front of a sellout crowd at the hartford civic center coliseum.with the exeption of a period in the late 1970's when the whalers played at the springfield civic center while the hartford civic center was being renovated,the franchise was located in hartford until it relocated to north carolina in 1997..............though they never again won a league championship,the new england whalers were a successful team,never missing the playoffs in the WHA's history,and finnishing first in it's divsion three times.they had a more stable roster the most WHA teams-ley,webster,selwood,pleau,and tommy earl would play all over 350 games with the club-and scored a major coup when the sighned legend gordiw howe and his sons mark and marty from the houston aeros(WHA)in 1977...........while the first two seasons in hartford were not glittering(the whalers losing records both years)the final two WHA seasons saw more success.they went to the finals again in 1978,with a veteran spearheaded by the howes-50 year old gordie howe led the team in scoring-future NHL starsgordie roberts and mike rogers,all star defensemen ron plumb,and forwards john mckenzie,dave keon, and mike antonovich and possessed of the league's best defense.the next season was not so fine,but while age finally caught up with gordie howe,the slack was picked up by andrelacroix,the WHA's all time leading scorer acquired from the folded aeros............as it was one of the most stable of the WHA teams,it was one of four franchises admitted to the national hockey league when the rival leagues merged in 1979.following lobbying from the boston bruins,one of the conditions of the merger stipulated that the whalers drop"new england" from thier name.the howes,rogers,ley,smith,roberts and lacroix would go on to wear the uniform of the HARTFORD whalers.most of the members of the 1978-79 whalers were available as only selwood,geogre lyle and warren miller were reclaimed by thier former NHL teams.legendary goal scorer bobby hull would be acquired late that season in a trade with another WHA team,the winnipeg jets,and play the last games not only as whaler,but also as a member of the same team as his childhoof idol,gordie howe(who also retired following the whalers first NHL season..............
the hartford whalers 1980-1997the whalers were never as successful in the NHL as they had been in the WHA,yet they attracted a passionate fan base over the years.they only recorded three winning seasons in the 18 years in the NHL,missed the playoffs ten times,and only once won a playoff series,earning along the way the derisive nickname"forever.500s."the team developed heated rivalries with the nearby boston bruins and new york rangers-for home games against the bruins especially,the civic center would have as many of a quarter of the fans in the seats from boston,two hour drives away-achieving all time records of 37-69-12 and 23-26-6 respectively against those clubs.............
the whalers NHL history was plagued by disastrous trades,especially in dealing stars for several medicore players in attempt to gain "depth."for instance,they dealt star defensemen mark howe and thier first NHL scoring leader mike rogers in a seprate deals for players and draft picks which never panned out,and also swapped hardrock defensemen gordie roberts for the remaining half of the season of mike fidler's nhl career.while a few trades did work out,such as trading chris pronger for brendan shanahan,all too often the players acquired left as soon as possible because mainly they where dickheads and the GM'S for the whalers were pretty much retards.....the team had a brief moment in the sun.1985-1986 and 1986-1987 seasons.the whalers fininshed fourth in the adams division in the 1985-86 regular season.in the playoffs they eliminated the first place quebec nordiques in three straight games,winning thier sole playoff series.the whalers pushed the division finals to seven games,losing the final game 2-1 in overtime to the eventual stanley cup champions,the montreal canadiens.the following season,the whalers won thier lone division championship in 1987.the whalers were lead by centers ron francis and ray ferraro,emerging hardcore winger kevin dineen,superstar goalie mike luit and troubled scorer sylvain turgeon.however,they were quickly eliminated in the first round.while they would make the playoffs for the next five seasons in a row,they would never even approach thier pervious glory.............the most psychologically damaging moment for the club was the 1991 trade of francis to the pittsburgh penguins.while it was not likely that the whalers would be able to resign francis after the season,the players acquired in return did not lead the whalers to success.the reaction of the fan base was savage in condemnation,esecially after francis promplty helpd the penguins to consecutive stanley cup titles.francis was one of the most popular players on the team,and nearly held every significant offensive record in franchis NHL history.coincidentally eddie johnson,the hartford general manager who orchestrated the francis trade,would follow him to pittsburgh as the penguins' head coach two years later...........
the whalers went to the playoffs in 1992 behind jimmy roberts coaching,but lost a dramatic double overtime game 7 in the adams division semifinal against the montreal canadiens,as russ courtnall scored on a turn-around shot.roberts was fired thereafter,and while the whalers had some stars in thier remaining five seasons in hartford-including fowards geoff sanderson,pat verbeek,and andrew cassels and goalie sean burke-they would never again make the playoffs..............depature from hartford..........
mainly it was a due to peter karmanos asking the state for too much in order to have an excuse to leave hartford in order for that asshole bettman the NHL comishaner to have a southeast divsion to move hcokey into more southern climates of the u.s.then again the governor at the time was trying to get the new england patriots to connecticut and got fucked over on that deal because the patriots were pretty much staying were they were staying...........possible NHL return?during the the last few years,there has been a certain groundswell of support to the NHL to retrun to hartford following the whaler's departture to the raleigh metropolitan area.former whalers owner howard baldwin along with larry gottesdiener,chairman of the northland investment corporation,both have expressed to help return the NHL hockey to hartford.to the end,in the early 2007 hartford mayor eddie a. perez sent a letter to pittsburgh penguins owner mario lemieux to try and see if he would add hartford to his list of possible relocation sites when the penguins were seriously contemplating moving,but this particular avenue became moot point when an agreement ws brockered between the NHL,the penguins and the city of pittsburgh to build a new arena.....to be continued........
new england/hartford whalers wants you to check out a photo on MySpace in the Screenshots album http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...
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is that a whalers jersey?!?!
