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Hartford Whalers
The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its 25-year existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to 1997.
Originally based in Boston, they were charter members of the WHA, known as the New England Whalers for all seven seasons. After their second season, the team moved one hundred miles (160 km) southwest to Hartford in April 1974; five years later, the Whalers joined the NHL in the 1979 NHL–WHA merger and were renamed the "Hartford Whalers" because the Boston Bruins did not want to share a geographical market with the team.
After 25 years in New England, the franchise relocated to North Carolina in 1997 and became the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Whalers franchise was created in November 1971 when the World Hockey Association (WHA) awarded a franchise to New England businessmen Howard Baldwin, W. Godfrey Wood, John Coburn and William Edward Barnes to begin play in Boston. The team began auspiciously, signing former Detroit Red Wings star Tom Webster, hard rock Boston Bruins' defenseman Ted Green (the team's inaugural captain), Toronto Maple Leafs' defensemen Rick Ley, Jim Dorey and Brad Selwood, and former Pittsburgh Penguins' goaltender Al Smith.
New England signed an unusually large number of American players, including Massachusetts natives and former U.S. Olympic hockey team members Larry Pleau (who had been a regular with the Montreal Canadiens the previous season), Kevin Ahearn, John Cunniff and Paul Hurley. Two other ex-U.S. Olympians on the Whalers' roster (Timothy Sheehy and Tom Williams) had spent a significant part of their careers in Boston with Boston College and the Bruins, respectively.
The Whalers had the WHA's best regular season record in the 1972–73 season. Webster led the team in scoring and through the playoffs. Behind legendary ex-Boston University head coach Jack Kelley, the team defeated the Winnipeg Jets to win the inaugural WHA championship.
The club played first season's home games at Boston Garden and Boston Arena. However, the Arena was too small and antiquated to sustain a WHA team while the Garden was owned by the rival NHL Bruins in which the Whalers found themselves fourth in priority for dates behind the Bruins, Boston Celtics, and even the American Hockey League's Boston Braves. Fed up with the situation, Baldwin decided to move elsewhere. In late February 1974, he announced the Whalers' upcoming relocation to Hartford, targeted for early April.
Hartford was about to open a new, modern downtown arena and convention center, the Hartford Civic Center. The city had hoped to get an American Basketball Association (ABA) team as the main tenant, but when that fell through, city leaders got in touch with the Whalers. Aside from various minor league teams in New Haven, the area had been largely bereft of professional hockey until the Whalers' arrival. The Civic Center was still being finished when the 1974–75 season began, so the Whalers played the first part of the season at The Big E Coliseum in West Springfield, Massachusetts, about thirty miles (50 km) north.
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Hartford Whalers
The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its 25-year existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to 1997.
Originally based in Boston, they were charter members of the WHA, known as the New England Whalers for all seven seasons. After their second season, the team moved one hundred miles (160 km) southwest to Hartford in April 1974; five years later, the Whalers joined the NHL in the 1979 NHL–WHA merger and were renamed the "Hartford Whalers" because the Boston Bruins did not want to share a geographical market with the team.
After 25 years in New England, the franchise relocated to North Carolina in 1997 and became the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Whalers franchise was created in November 1971 when the World Hockey Association (WHA) awarded a franchise to New England businessmen Howard Baldwin, W. Godfrey Wood, John Coburn and William Edward Barnes to begin play in Boston. The team began auspiciously, signing former Detroit Red Wings star Tom Webster, hard rock Boston Bruins' defenseman Ted Green (the team's inaugural captain), Toronto Maple Leafs' defensemen Rick Ley, Jim Dorey and Brad Selwood, and former Pittsburgh Penguins' goaltender Al Smith.
New England signed an unusually large number of American players, including Massachusetts natives and former U.S. Olympic hockey team members Larry Pleau (who had been a regular with the Montreal Canadiens the previous season), Kevin Ahearn, John Cunniff and Paul Hurley. Two other ex-U.S. Olympians on the Whalers' roster (Timothy Sheehy and Tom Williams) had spent a significant part of their careers in Boston with Boston College and the Bruins, respectively.
The Whalers had the WHA's best regular season record in the 1972–73 season. Webster led the team in scoring and through the playoffs. Behind legendary ex-Boston University head coach Jack Kelley, the team defeated the Winnipeg Jets to win the inaugural WHA championship.
The club played first season's home games at Boston Garden and Boston Arena. However, the Arena was too small and antiquated to sustain a WHA team while the Garden was owned by the rival NHL Bruins in which the Whalers found themselves fourth in priority for dates behind the Bruins, Boston Celtics, and even the American Hockey League's Boston Braves. Fed up with the situation, Baldwin decided to move elsewhere. In late February 1974, he announced the Whalers' upcoming relocation to Hartford, targeted for early April.
Hartford was about to open a new, modern downtown arena and convention center, the Hartford Civic Center. The city had hoped to get an American Basketball Association (ABA) team as the main tenant, but when that fell through, city leaders got in touch with the Whalers. Aside from various minor league teams in New Haven, the area had been largely bereft of professional hockey until the Whalers' arrival. The Civic Center was still being finished when the 1974–75 season began, so the Whalers played the first part of the season at The Big E Coliseum in West Springfield, Massachusetts, about thirty miles (50 km) north.
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