OT: Any Whaler fans out there?

[bobgeorge]

Just wondering how you feel seeing Carolina winning the Stanley Cup tonight. NESN SportsDesk (thankfully minus Hazel Mae tonight, the only reason I watched it) played the old song "Brass Bonanza" while showing the highlights of Game 7. I went off on a memory lane websurf for old Whaler websites, and there are several out there with great Whaler memories. While I am still a Bruins fan first and foremost, I don't forget the time the Whalers spent in Springfield nor when I used to see them at the Hartford CC in the 1980s. It is a shame that they had to leave Hartford and wish they could have won this Cup in Hartford instead of North Carolina.

OBTW I watched the 1973 WHA Championship clincher when they were based in Boston and were the NE Whalers.

Bob G

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

Stupid Hurricanes, they can all burn in ****.

 

[flutie2phelan]

Are you sure they were called New England when they played in the old Garden?
(I think of them as the Boston Whalers.)

When the club was formed, you may recall that they held a public naming contest.
I nominated the Ironsides. Of course i lost.

That first season, in an early game, i was amazed at how dominant Derek Sanderson was
among the other skaters. Since he didn't OWN an NHL rink that way ... i knew then
that it really wasn't a major league.

Even before the Bruins seconded Raymond to Colorado so that he could go out with a ring,
i would root for the old Nordiques out of nostalgia.

 

[usmcmgb]

Re: Any Whaler Fans out There?

Was a season ticket holder for many years when they were in Hartford. I was pissed when they packed up and left but have a lot of memories of those old Adams Division games with the B's, Montreal and Quebec. My only fear is that I always claimed that I would gladly die happy tomorrow if only the Patriots would win the Super Bowl, The Red Sox would win the World Series and the Whalers would win the Stanley Cup. Looks like I finally hit the trifecta but now I'm just hoping God doesn't count the Hurricanes as the Whalers!

 

[CTPatsFan]

Yup. I think it sucked. There is no way in hell I wanted to see that piece of chit Karmanos anywhere near the Cup. I was pulling hard for the Oilers.

On the WTIC 1080 sportscast this morning they were playing the Brass Bonanza in the background. There are less than a handful of connections to the Whalers, I don't understand the grasping on. Many of the Whalers fan clubs met up to watch the series to cheer on their former team. I guess I'm just too simple to comprehend that mindset. I suppose if it was a year or two after they left and there were still a bunch of players on the team where there might be a connection, but not this long.

In true jilted fashion, they are dead to me and I've been a Bruins fan since they left. I'm used to mediocrity and mismanagement when it comes to the NHL so it was an easy transition.

 

[dryheat44]

I loved to see Carolina win, just to cheese off the Canadians. I find their complex hysterical. Last I looked, Edmonton and Montreal had the fewest Canadians on their roster. Carolina was the more "Canadian" team, just like Tampa Bay last go-around. But our neighbors to the North get bent out of shape because the team plays its home games south of the border.

Did anyone care that the Toronto Blue Jays won a couple of World Series? Was their an uproar because the so-called national pastime was one by a group of American and Latino players who played home games in the SkyDome? I don't remember.

And, finally, yes, the team was the "Boston" Whalers the first season. They re-named it when they moved out to Springfield.

 

[mgcolby]

I was in Texas when the Stars won the Cup and I got pissed that the Bruins haven't won one in my lifetime and now the Hurricanes win it. The first thing I thought was the F*cking whalers won a cup before we did. When will Jacobs sell the team? My entire childhood the division looked like this

Montreal/Boston
Boston/Montreal
Buffalo
Hartford
Quebec

Hell Quebec won a cup. We were in such a seemingly perfect situation at the start of FA last year and they blew it and don't get me started on Sergi and Joe trades. Disgusting! I'm done, sorry for the rant!

 

[pats1]

What's hockey?

 

[marty]

Are you sure they were called New England when they played in the old Garden?
(I think of them as the Boston Whalers.)

.

I thought the Boston Whaler was a boat?

 

[Michigan Dave]

As a Red Wing fan, I find it nauseating that Tampa and Carolina are Stanley Cup champions. I hate the over-expansion and relocation in the NHL. I swear, if Atlanta or Nashville ever wins the cup, I will go insane. I'm just weird like that, though.

 

[Tunescribe]

Just wondering how you feel seeing Carolina winning the Stanley Cup tonight. NESN SportsDesk (thankfully minus Hazel Mae tonight, the only reason I watched it) played the old song "Brass Bonanza" while showing the highlights of Game 7. I went off on a memory lane websurf for old Whaler websites, and there are several out there with great Whaler memories. While I am still a Bruins fan first and foremost, I don't forget the time the Whalers spent in Springfield nor when I used to see them at the Hartford CC in the 1980s. It is a shame that they had to leave Hartford and wish they could have won this Cup in Hartford instead of North Carolina.

OBTW I watched the 1973 WHA Championship clincher when they were based in Boston and were the NE Whalers.

Bob G

This thread belongs in the General Talk forum. In the future, please keep the football forum football only. You may notice that since Ian posted the OT directives sticky above, traffic has picked up in the GT forum and it has become a fun place to go and talk things like hockey. Just a friendly reminder from your local forum cop, as officially designated by ex-violator PATSNUTme.

 

[PATSNUTme]

Bob, I can't read what the poster just ahead of me wrote because he's on my "dead to me" list.

But, if I were betting, I would say that you just got pulled over by the self appointed forum cop.

 

[Flying Fungi]

1972-1973 New England Whalers
In the New England Whalers' inaugural season while still in Boston, and playing in the legendary Boston Garden, the team established the green and white colour scheme that they would wear for over twenty years.

The Whalers would wear this style for three seasons in the WHA.

 

[Tunescribe]

Bob, I can't read what the poster just ahead of me wrote because he's on my "dead to me" list.

But, if I were betting, I would say that you just got pulled over by the self appointed forum cop.

Wow, you called that one right! How did you guess? It's a gosh dern shame you've left me on your "ignore" list because you're missing out on all the fun. But just the same, it's encouraging to us all how you've moved your own OT ramblings to more appropriate areas of this messageboard. You're the greatest, PATSNUTme. I mean it.

 

[dalero]

Been to alot of Whaler games, tickets were cheaper, easier to come by, and the place was much easier for me to get to from where I live. The games with the Bruins were always intense and incredibly entertaining for local hockey fans. I sorely miss that rivalry.

 

[Brady-To-Branch]

In 1974, who would have thought that the WHA's NE Whalers would win the Stanley Cup sooner than the Boston Bruins?

I used to watch the NE Whalers on channel 56 back in the 1970s.

Hartford is trying to lure a struggling NHL team back to the city. If they do, I'll support it.

 

[bobgeorge]

1972-1973 New England Whalers
In the New England Whalers' inaugural season while still in Boston, and playing in the legendary Boston Garden, the team established the green and white colour scheme that they would wear for over twenty years.

The Whalers would wear this style for three seasons in the WHA.

This proves it...they were never the BOSTON Whalers, but rather the NEW ENGLAND Whalers. I am 100% sure on this, I watched a lot of their games in 1972-73.

Bob G

 

[bobgeorge]

I used to watch the NE Whalers on channel 56 back in the 1970s.

So did I, with former Patriot radio man John Carlson (who did the Pats in the ten year period Gil Santos did not), Stan Fischler and Tim Horgan handling the broadcasts for WLVI.

Bob G

 

[dryheat44]

This proves it...they were never the BOSTON Whalers, but rather the NEW ENGLAND Whalers. I am 100% sure on this, I watched a lot of their games in 1972-73.

Bob G

They were absolutely founded as the Boston Whalers. It's possible they changed names before the first game. I just finished reading an excellent history of the WHA. I believe it was called Some Beautiful Moments by Ed Willis, if you're interested.

 

[Flying Fungi]

They were absolutely founded as the Boston Whalers. It's possible they changed names before the first game. I just finished reading an excellent history of the AHL. I believe it was called Some Beautiful Moments by Ed Willis, if you're interested.

Hard saying, but the timeline looks tough for them to have been the Boston Whalers of the AHL. They were still in the WHA when they started playing in West Springfield and then moved to Hartford.

http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nhl/hartford/whalers.html