A hockey team by any other name…

Let's talk some hockey. As self-appointed hockey fan on this here blog, I feel the need to talk about the Carolina Hurricanes, or as I like to call them, The Hartford Whalers. Growing up in Connecticut, I followed the Whalers closely and cherished going to their games, even if it meant loss after loss after loss. The Whalers never really made the leap from WHA to NHL all that well, and neither did many other teams (see more on that below). I've always thought of the Whalers as, well, sucky, but I loved them anyway. So when the Canes made the Stanley Cup finals a few years ago, I was blown away! This was the Whalers we were talking about! The Whalers, whose biggest success to date had been winning one playoffs series in 18 years of the NHL. They had only 3 seasons above .500, so how is it that they made the Stanley Cup finals? And how are they doing so well this season that they've currently locked up the Southeast Division title and are 2nd in the East in point standings? I'm not going to go into that question but I'd like to just expound on the fact that when a team moves from a crappy market with a crappy arena , they tend to do better in the new city. Fresh faces, fresh audience, a new chance to build up the fanbase in a bigger (and hopefully better) city.

The Whalers had one of the crappiest arenas ever constructed, the Hartford Civic Center. It's so crappy (how crappy is it?) — It's so crappy, that to this date no corporation has even wanted to buy the naming rights! Even Providence, RI renamed their Civic Center the Dunkin Donuts Center. Even Worcester, MA renamed theirs after some company. I'm not saying that all arenas should be renamed but if nobody even wants to buy the rights to naming it, there's got to be something wrong with that. The Whalers did have a horrible lease with the Civic Center and honestly, if the city or state wanted to do anything to keep them, they would have ponied up some sort of offer. The fanbase was surely there, their attendance had nothing to do with their record, and I've still met people who "bleed Whaler green." I remember back in 1996 when it was announced that they would relocate to Raleigh, I was wearing a Whalers hat and a (drunk) guy came up to me and declared that he and his friends had gone to Raleigh and pissed on the stadium that was being built. See? Rabid fanbase! The same fanbase was there in Winnipeg and Quebec when they moved their franchises (although I am not aware of any arena-peeing incidents but I'm sure there were many, and possibly more extreme excremental activities), and certainly moving the Minnesota North Stars to Dallas was a travesty (the Wild? Come on. LAME NAME GUYS).

Speaking of those other two franchises, the Quebec Nordiques (the only team who did worse than the Whalers in the old Adams Division) moved to Denver. Pretty good move as the renamed Colorado Avalanche went on to become a 90's powerhouse and did pretty well. The Winnipeg Jets certainly have had better success in Phoenix as the Coyotes, and the North Stars have done better in Dallas as the Stars. Perhaps it's the new scenery that inspires the troops. Perhaps the new crazy fans who come up with better rainbow wigs and maybe they have better chest-painting skills. Either way, moving a franchise gives a team the opportunity to create a new image (and millions of dollars worth of merch) and a new look for a sorry team.

The relocation of sports franchises has always intrigued me, and I have an amazing memory of where almost every team has been and when. There are always rumblings of teams wanting to move (the Marlins are seriously looking to get out of Miami — more on that in a few days).

I don't really follow the Carolina Hurricanes all that much these days, I've been pretty much teamless for the last few years as I don't know where to throw my fandom (as long as it's not those hated Bruins). I flirted with the Leafs and the idea of trying to follow the Canes, but I couldn't get behind it. I've settled on following the AHL's Manchester Monarchs as they're now my hometown team! RAWR — I'm in MONARCHS country!

I do check up on the Canes in the paper from time to time, though. I just happened to see their success and I'm pleased. The other year when they went to the Stanley Cup finals, there were a few players I did recognize on the roster as old Whalers (Ron Francis, etc) and it made me happy that they were finally on a contender after years of being on sub-par teams. I like the look of the Hurricanes' logo okay, but I'm still searching for a Hartford Whalers mid-90's road jersey. They are impossible to find. Just like my youth.