Hartford and Raleigh: A Tale of Two Hockey Hubs

Hartford and Raleigh: A Tale of Two Hockey Hubs

By Randy B. Young

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” Charles Dickens wrote in “A Tale of Two Cities.” “It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity…”

The beloved New England Whalers professional hockey franchise first played in the Hartford Civic Center Colosseum on January 11, 1975. Over the five decades since that night, it has certainly been the best and worst of times for both Hartford and Raleigh, N.C.

In April of 2025, Whalers fans hummed “Brass Bonanza” and celebrated a melancholic milestone: the 28th anniversary of the news that the team would be leaving Connecticut for the warmer climes of Raleigh. It thrilled hockey fans who had migrated south and introduced the sport to new fans with the newly named Carolina Hurricanes team, but gutted the Whalers fan base to the core.

While North Carolinians naturally took to the speedy sport quickly, are Whalers fans now ‘Canes fans? It depends on who you ask.

“I never became a Hurricanes fan,” says longtime Whalers fan, Connecticut broadcaster and Emmy-winning journalist Dennis House. “I don’t live in North Carolina. I have no connection to Raleigh. The Whalers were gone, and that was it.”

In an interview for the 2023 NBC Connecticut feature “Hartford Whalers: From Heartbeat to Heartbreak,” Whalers founder Howard Baldwin echoed House’s lament. “When you lost the Whalers, you lost the heart and soul, in my opinion, of the community…”

Conversely, Hartford Whaler Booster Club President Mark Anderson says that his allegiance now bridges the Hartford-Raleigh gap.

“There are a few (Hurricanes fans)—not many—but I’ll watch the Hurricanes over the Bruins or Rangers every time—I’ll watch as many games as time allows,” Anderson explains.

The best of timelines

The New England Whalers were founded by Howard Baldwin in 1971 as part of the World Hockey Association (WHA), at first playing in Boston, then moving to Hartford in 1974. On January 18, 1978, fate played its hand. The Civic Center roof collapsed under the weight of heavy snow. When the roof was rebuilt, it added thousands of seats, meeting the NHL’s minimum capacity requirements.

The next year marked the beginning of the Whalers’ NHL campaigns and the debut of Peter Good’s still-popular logo in 1979. After a string of play-off appearances, the Whalers became part of the fabric of Hartford before speculation arose related to the sale of the team to Richard Gordon in 1988 and Peter Karmanos, Jr. in 1994. 

Karmonos’s confirmation of the Whalers’ move to a new arena and, presumably, solvency was a shock that reverberated all the way to Tobacco Road. 

The team rebranded itself as the Carolina Hurricanes, forsaking the adored Whalers colors for the black-and-red of North Carolina State University Wolfpack basketball with whom the hockey team still shares the 19,722-seat arena in Raleigh.

Since 1997, the Carolina Hurricanes franchise has been largely successful and even won the 2006 NHL Championship. The Hurricanes struggled through the 2010 years until changing owners and hiring Ron Brind’Amour as head coach in 2018; the ‘Canes have made the play-offs every year since.

A whale of a run 

During the heyday in the 1970’s and 1980’s, the Whalers put Connecticut on the map. Suddenly, “Hartford” was listed alongside hockey hubs like Detroit, New York or Chicago. Celebrities like Snoop Dog were sporting the Whalers brand. It was, surely, the best of times for Connecticut hockey fans.

“I’ve been a Whalers fan since I was a kid,” Anderson says. “I was nine years old. Our next-door neighbor had an extra ticket to go to a Whaler game on a Saturday night, and Hartford beat the Rangers in overtime. I was absolutely, positively hooked.”

The Whalers built relationships both on the ice and out in the community.

“When the team was here, you would see those guys at the CVS or picking up their suit at the cleaners,” Anderson recalls. “The Whalers were your neighbors.”

The worst of times…

When owner Walter O’Malley moved his Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1958, journalist Ed Henry said that was, “dumping the guts and grit of Ebbets Field for the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.”

When Karmanos announced the Whalers’ move to Raleigh, it lives in infamy, though it was not unexpected.

“It was very bitter,” House explains. “There are people who still hate Peter Karmanos to this day, but…the team was losing some money. It was tough to get a good TV deal here, and there just weren’t enough people buying tickets.”

“I don’t root for the Hurricanes,” House adds. “One of the things that Hartford has going for it is that so many grow up playing hockey, but a place like Tampa! Is there even a high school hockey team in all of Florida? Or in North Carolina?”

Irreconcilable differences?

It’s one thing to endure an emotional parting in our lives. It’s another thing to watch your former ex-partner do the tango with a different partner.

“It broke my heart when they left,” Anderson wistfully says. “I cried like a baby.”

Few players or personnel, with the notable exception of Ron Francis and longtime announcer Chuck Kaiton, survived the trip south, but those concessions were enough to retain some Hartford fans.

“My resentment lasted a year,” Anderson concedes, “but then they went to the Stanley Cup Final in 2002 (with Ron Francis). They got me hooked all over again.” 

Once in the PNC Arena (now the Lenovo Center), southern fans—and even some northern fans—rallied around Raleigh’s only professional sports team in a college basketball mecca.

“I went to a game [in Raleigh] the night they retired Francis’s jersey in 2006,” Anderson states. “It was the end of January, 70 degrees and the tailgating was in full force. I cannot say enough about how nice the people were.”

After some lean years in Raleigh, Karmanos sold the team in 2018 to Tom Dunson, who vowed to honor the Whalers’ fanbase. The ‘Canes began to wear Whalers throwback uniforms at various games and began selling Whalers merchandise at home games. Throwback Whalers nights have occurred each year since 2018. At present, the ‘Canes have amassed a 6-0-3 record when wearing Whalers uniforms and are 5-0-1 on designated Whalers Nights.

Hurricanes Vice President of Communications Michael Sundheim said that the ‘Canes planned to wear throwback Whaler uniforms at least three times over the 2025/26 season, including a special “Whalers Night” celebration on January 29, 2026.

“We’ve tried to kind of capture the spirit of things every year since we started doing that,” he says.

“Now you cannot watch a Hurricanes game and not see a Whalers jersey in the stands,” Anderson declares.

Keeping Hartford’s hockey hopes “on ice”

Despite a string of play-off appearances over the past seven years, ‘Canes fans long to celebrate another Stanley Cup win in 2026, whichever uniform they’re wearing. And fans in Connecticut are still devout in their hopes for a return of NHL hockey.

“Our Booster Club has between 50 and 75 members,” Anderson says. “We go to functions and march in Hartford’s St. Patrick’s Day parades. For a team that hasn’t been around for almost 30 years, I think it’s pretty good.”

Recent Connecticut political candidates have claimed to make the return of the Hartford Whalers a priority, even though Avon businessman Richard Gordon once famously said that he lost $10 million a year when he owned the team in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s.

“I think we have to try,” Baldwin puts forward. “Every team—not just Hartford—needs a billionaire…or three or four. I’m not the right guy, but I would be first in line to get season tickets.”

“We’d have to have a new arena,” Anderson says, “but we always hold the candle of hope that we might get a team here at some point.”

“They’ve always been my team, here or there,” Anderson says, all-in for the Hurricanes. And House applauds the Canes’ nostalgic nods to Hartford: “Anything that celebrates the Whalers history is a positive.” So, the tale of these two cities lives on in an awkward kinship, a patient longing and a mutual love of hockey. 

Even if nothing changes fast, fans are still heartened by the Brooklyn Dodgers mantra…in the best and worst of times: 

“Wait ‘til next year…”

A graduate of Dartmouth College, Randy B. Young worked in advertising in New England before relocating and working in communications for the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. N.C.  Recently retired, he is a freelance writer and photographer.