Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Bob Joyce, voice of Yukon women'sbasketball, also the voice of Yukon hockey.
You were just making mention, wewere watching what was it Boston Sports
NBC, and it was Butch Cassidybringing the rus Cassidy. How many times
have I done that? Eighty seven? Bruce Cassidy? Could he bring the
Sundance Kid with him? He's broughtthe Sundance Kid and the Stanley Cup trophy
(00:20):
as he is the coach of theVegas Golden Golden Knights, but was the
coach of the Boston Bruins. Sohe brings it back to what was at
Mill Milton mess. Yeah it wasfor charity. Yeah, it was a
charity. Fab No, no,brute, No, Bruce isn't like that.
Bruce isn't like that. You knowwhat it turned out? Look,
you know maybe you know some ofthe players, I guess didn't want him
(00:43):
around in Boston and they said theyneeded a change. And you know what,
Cassidy was the perfect fit for forVegas. Good team, good organization
and everything just kind of fit togetherand off they went. So and Bruce
is a good coach, no questionabout it. You know, good for
him, and he brought it backfor it to help a charity out.
I hope they made a ton ofmoney by, you know, visiting a
(01:04):
look at the Stanley Cup, beingable to just get your picture taken with
it. It's awesome. If you'venever been around the Cup, it's it's
truly an amazing piece of hardware.And if you get up to watch up
close and look at all the nameson there, yet it's it's a lot
of it's it's the way they bringit in is you No, you don't
(01:25):
have words for it. It's justthat special piece of hardware that everybody works
so hard to win. I mean, yeah, you win the Super Bowl,
you get the Lombardi Trophy. It'slike, stop bringing it out like
the Stanley Cup. You know it'snot the same. You know that those
sports are bigger, but the trophyfor hockey is just it's something really special.
You can tell this man, BobJoyce has an affection for the sport.
(01:46):
Not only does he do Yukon hockeyplay by play for the Yukon Sports
Network. Now, I was ahuge Bruins fan, but even before all
of that, he was once anemployee for the Hartford Whale and it is
today's discussion listened sports History Time,and ironically, next week is Whaler's Alumni
week and at the Yard Goats,and our friend Chuck Cat's back up here
(02:07):
next week. You're trying to gethim on the show, right, trying
to get him on the show.You have his number. I can help
you with. Our friend Dean Zappelliniis hooking all those players up, getting
them back to the Yard Goats soall those guys can wave their hats in
front of the crowd and we canhave a big Whalers weekend as we always
do. But the Whalers were oncerocking in this town and then they went
(02:30):
away. I always tell this story, and I apologize if you've heard it
before, but when I showed upand on in Hartford again, I'm a
Hurricane fan, and you know kannyakwas down North Carolina for a decade plus
and then go back to the orgo to Hartford for the first time,
went to the Xcel Center, lookedat all the jerseys up there, and
(02:50):
it's like, oh, you guys, you guys like Ron Francis too.
How did Ron? Oh that's right. So then it like hit me,
Oh yeah, the Whalers became theHurricanes. That's right. And the unsolicited
sports history I wanted for you todayis how did you find out, Bob?
How were you told Bob the Whalersare moving to Carolina? Well,
(03:16):
ironically it was on a game night. Now, what were your duties?
Like? What were you doing rightthen for the Whale? How long have
you been with the Whale? Whatwas like your history with that franchise,
Whalers the last ten years they werein in Hartford? I was basically Kurt
kaplan what Kurt is to your show? So you're running I was shot studio,
running the board, rolling on twolittle telex real to real tape machines,
(03:40):
getting highlights, putting them on cart. You remember carts filled enough in
the radio business, everything used tobe on tape back in the day.
How fresh is this building that we'reworking in? Yeah, exactly fresh?
Yeah, it is fresh. Everythingwas on carts I was in. We
were in the third floor of theCivic Center offices. Okay, chuckle up
(04:00):
on the catwalk, the same broadcastposition. We're up on the catwalk for
our games for us were chuck broadcasting, Okay, cool. We used to
have a little cabinet behind there.Used to have a little mixer and we
had a giant snake that would godown into the room and we'd hook up
the boards together. So basically itwas a couple of cough buttons and the
headsets, mikes and a headphone.At that Chuck never could get loud enough
because he was old and couldn't hearanything. So for that time, you
(04:23):
are a pretty big staple in thisfranchise as far as their broadcasting crew.
You've been there for a decade.You've seen some ups, you've seen some
downs. You are living and dyingwith this franchise. Yeah, I mean
I was also a Bruins fan too. There's some funny stories too, But
anyhow, you know, the ninetysix ninety seventh season was somewhat intriguing when
(04:44):
Peter Carmanos bought the team. Atthe time, Lowell Wiker was the governor
who just recently passed away in lastweek and later he became a shareholder in
Carmanos's company. After yes, thatwas part of the deal. So and
the intent was Carmonos he was goingto keep it well. Teams are starting
to move like Quebec. They wonthey because they had so many teams in
(05:05):
the northeast. You had Quebec,you had Montreal, you had Boston and
Hartford. He had all the NewYork teams, the Owners, the Rangers,
and the Devils at the time Flyers. So you had a very concentrated
group of teams in one general area. And the thought, I'm sure was,
let's get a couple of those teamsout of there and try to expand
and grow the game elsewhere. TheNHLs, right right, So in ninety
(05:26):
six Quebec moved to Colorado. Afterthe ninety four after the ninety four ninety
five season, they moved to Colorado, which, by the way, and
the first and the first yes,And there was a trade the next year,
and sure enough, the first yearin Denver they win the Cup.
So you start hearing rumors things aregoing to happen. Well, you know,
(05:46):
Carmanos wants into arena. Now,how much do you cross pass with
Carmanos? Not really, more sowith Jim Rutherford, the general manager.
So when you hear things, it'salmost like mister big upstairs, this shadowy
figure is making some kind of disYeah. And come to think of it,
now that you asked a question.Now, once in a while,
our late dear friend and Rob knowshim to. Arnold Dean used to have
(06:10):
Peter Karmanos and Jim Rutherford who wasthe GM at the time, on his
talk show Okay at Night. Soand Arnold was one of those guys that
you could ask a tough question ina very very personable way without trying to
really stir the hornet's nest be youknow, like you know, you get
confrontational now in these day and ageof talk radio. Arnold had that gentle,
(06:31):
gentlemanly type of thing. And Peteralways said, you know, hey,
if we get average X amount offans for a season tickets, hey
we'll think, you know, we'llcertainly consider staying. Well, they got
over thirteen I think close to thirteenthousand season tickets for the last year they
were in Hartford because they did areally hard season ticket dried the state of
(06:51):
Connecticut. The lieutenant governor, whoat the time was Jody Rell. John
Rowland was the governor, and itjust seemed like and there was even talk
a new arena. So let meget this in perspective too. You're telling
me this movement was taking a placeall across the country based on the NHL.
His conversation was taking place kind oflike nineteen ninety five, Yeah,
(07:12):
starting then to when the move happens, So it's not like out of the
blue. People know that. Justabsolutely it was being talked about, and
of course it gained momentum once Quebecmoved, so they thought, oh,
are we next, and the ticketdrive was a big part of it.
And then you know, hey,you know every time we as consumers answered
(07:32):
the bell for a team, bythe way, that hadn't made the playoffs
since nineteen ninety two, so you'retalking about, you know, five years
without a playoff Berth here and theystill you know, I think the average
attendance was like ninety percent capacity forthe season. But as we're getting closer
and closer, from what I rememberand what I've been told, there was
(07:56):
a battle for a new arena.And it seemed like every time the state
and it was more or less GovernorRoland versus Peter Karmanos, that the state
met what they want, what thewhalers wanted, and what Peter Carmanos wanted.
He upped the bar a little bitevery single time, and it got
to a point where the governor saidthat's it. We're done, just can't
(08:18):
do it anymore. And I wouldthink Gary Bettman, who's still the commissioner
of the NHL, had something todo with let's get him out of Hartford.
I mean, fans are convinced ofthat, and I wouldn't be the
least bit surprised by that. ButI found out it was late March of
ninety seven when it was official.The Whalers were getting ready to play Colorado
(08:41):
ironically in Hartford, and the gamewas like at seven, and the six
o'clock news comes on and TV stationsare breaking breaking news that the deal's off,
the Whalers are moving. So youfind out from the news. Yeah,
and you're not in the building.No, I'm in the build.
I'm in the building. I'm inthe Civic Center, getting ready for standing
(09:03):
around. It's probably myself and MarioCahar, my cohort engineer slash producer for
the network. Yeah, we're probablyin the radio room. I think maybe
we were in downstairs the media mealwhen this all happened. So yeah,
and you now you've been in theXcel Center enough. You know that press
(09:26):
area that's way way in the backthat was the old hockey press box way
way up there. Yeah, it'sit's kind of creepy up there, very
creepy when there's nobody there. Yeah, but yeah, there was just a
buzz going around and and even upuntil the very last day, the last
week of the season, they werein the hunt for the playoffs. They
(09:46):
had four games left, two home, two them away. They played on
it. They played Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday to end the season.
They were still in position to makethe playoffs. I think there were
seventh or eighth at the time.They beat Buffalo at home Place goes nuts.
Jeff Sanderson scored a late goal.I think they won like five three
something like that, and they're allcharged up. Ottawa meanwhile is making a
(10:07):
late charge like the Whalers did ineighty six. Ottawa came back in the
league. Ninety two, ninety threeI think is when they came back and
they were looking for their first playoffberth while they were getting hot in the
month of March, Whalers went thereto Ottawa. Ottawa beat them five four,
back and forth game. Okay,Whalers are still like eighth, So
(10:28):
they go to New York to playthe Islanders, on a Friday night.
I will never forget this. I'min the room. They win, they
put themselves in position to make theplayoffs. On Sunday at home against Tampa
Bay, they stunk it up andthe Islanders were not very good back then.
They lost like four to one.Just a terrible performance Friday, and
(10:50):
the same night Ottawa wins. Iforget who they played, and then they
played and now it's like Whalers needhelp. Ottawa plays a Ttroit on a
Saturday night, Ottawa beats Detroit ina league goal. Ottawas in the playoffs.
So it's like the writings on thewall Sunday is it? Everyone in
(11:13):
town knows. Everyone knows the towngame that everyone talks about that I was
at. I was at, Iwas at. It was a very surreal
day for me. Um. Itwas a combination of work because we did
a retrospective on the whole thing thatI had been working on for the radio
station, and go play a gameof deck hockey in the morning in Bloomfield
(11:37):
and then come back and it wasjust a very surreal day. It feels
like everyone knew, but nobody wastalking about it. Yeah, I mean,
there's still plenty of video. Imean the whole games on TV on
YouTube, you look up on YouTube, but it was, as John Forslin
opened it up, a meaningless ameaningless game with a whole lot of meaning,
(11:58):
and it was just kind of aback and fourth game. It was
two to one, neither team wasgoing to the playoffs. It was just
a way to wrap it up.But there wasn't a seat to be found,
Banners all over the place, alot of tears, nobody wanted to
leave when the game was over.Kevin Denine scored the last goal early in
the third period that proved to bethe game winner. Kind of appropriate,
(12:20):
but it was just one of thosesurreal days and fans didn't really know what
to do when the game was overbecause it was the end. And I
think Chuck eloquently said it, youknow, fans are just trying to take
in what's left of the NHL andHartford and that was it. And then
maybe a little over a month later, if even that, the announcement was
(12:41):
there going to Carolina and that's theend of the Hartford Whalers. When did
would they won the Stanley Cup shortlyafter two thousand and six? How did
that feel for this community. Somepeople were still very bitter. I wasn't
because I was happy for Chuck,because Chuck saw a lot of bad hockey
(13:03):
in this time here. They gotto the finals at O two, which
was a surprise, and then theylost to Detroit. The Red Wings were
really really good back then. Butwhen they won it in ninety six or
two thousand and six, I wasreally happy for Chuck and I and enjoyed
the run. I tried to listen, I would play hi, I would
I think I filled in or atleast would make sure we get a highlight
(13:24):
or two because people loved to Chuck. Chuck was the voice of our team,
and Chuck has forever loved here.You know that he comes back.
He's as big an attraction as someof the as the players are, and
I was just really happy to seehim be able to get his trophy.
I was happy for Jim Rutherford,who was the GM at the time.
Carmano so I didn't really didn't reallymatter to me but Jim, But Jim,
(13:46):
Jim, Jim was a genuinely goodguy. He really really hoped that
it was things were going to workout in Hartford. Ultimately they didn't,
but Yeah, it was just awhole bizarre thing to see. And you
know, people are hoping and prayingthat someday we get a team back.
But the first things first, theydidn't new arena because even putting lipstick on
(14:07):
this pigger, getting it refurbished isnot going to be the answer. There's
so many things inside that need tobe need to be redone. When that
game ended, did you run toany locker room and try to start stealing
stuff and put it in your No, I had to bowl back down the
street down when the when when thestudios were in Hartford, we were at
the Gold Building and we had theretrospective show on the team, and they
(14:31):
we got tons and tons of calls. It was a really good, well
done show. Fans are just voicingtheir displeasure and giving us great memories.
I had a top ten list ofa great Whaler highlights. Yeah. In
fact, we even ended up replayingit like a week later because people who
went to the game wanted to hearit. I really do think the fan
base should be proud of how thebrand has lasted. It's incredible, it
(14:54):
really is. And what we're goingto do next week with the Whalers weekend
at yard Goods, which will bewell tended, and how the yard Goats
themselves embraced the colors. When thehome run hits, they play the brass
bananza. Same with our friends overthere at the Athletic like they're blue and
green for a reason. It isbecause of the Hartford Whale. I just
I think is that from what youdid, from what Chuck did for everyone
(15:18):
that as a fan that went thereto bring that brand up, to keep
it lasting what it is. There'sa reason that they sell the jersey in
the airport and is still flying offthe shelves like it's one of the great
logos in sports if you if youthink about it, the way it's set
up, it's got everything in there, and people, some people to this
day say well, where's the Hin it? It's smack dab in the
(15:41):
middle right between the whale tail andW there's an H there and that H
is from an old marketing plan ofthe heartbeat of Hartford and it the designs
and the guy who just made thelogo recently died when in the last six
months, right, Yeah, it'sit's a great logo. It was updated
a little bit when Brian Burke wasthe GM in the early nineties, just
(16:03):
added a little more great to itand still very sharp. But that logo
has stood the test of time andit's still one of the hottest selling logos
in the NHL. Well, thanksfor sharing that with us. I think
that it's just you're so fascinating withall the little ins and outs of Connecticut
sports that you've had, and Ithink that that moment right there is a
fascinating one for a lot of peopletoo, because I think, you know,
(16:23):
people have lived that moment in thiscommunity in so many different angles,
and your angle is awesome one tolook at as well.
Bob Joyce, voice of Yukon women'sbasketball, also the voice of Yukon hockey.
You were just making mention, wewere watching what was it Boston Sports
NBC, and it was Butch Cassidybringing the rus Cassidy. How many times
have I done that? Eighty seven? Bruce Cassidy? Could he bring the
Sundance Kid with him? He's broughtthe Sundance Kid and the Stanley Cup trophy
(00:20):
as he is the coach of theVegas Golden Golden Knights, but was the
coach of the Boston Bruins. Sohe brings it back to what was at
Mill Milton mess. Yeah it wasfor charity. Yeah, it was a
charity. Fab No, no,brute, No, Bruce isn't like that.
Bruce isn't like that. You knowwhat it turned out? Look,
you know maybe you know some ofthe players, I guess didn't want him
(00:43):
around in Boston and they said theyneeded a change. And you know what,
Cassidy was the perfect fit for forVegas. Good team, good organization
and everything just kind of fit togetherand off they went. So and Bruce
is a good coach, no questionabout it. You know, good for
him, and he brought it backfor it to help a charity out.
I hope they made a ton ofmoney by, you know, visiting a
(01:04):
look at the Stanley Cup, beingable to just get your picture taken with
it. It's awesome. If you'venever been around the Cup, it's it's
truly an amazing piece of hardware.And if you get up to watch up
close and look at all the nameson there, yet it's it's a lot
of it's it's the way they bringit in is you No, you don't
(01:25):
have words for it. It's justthat special piece of hardware that everybody works
so hard to win. I mean, yeah, you win the Super Bowl,
you get the Lombardi Trophy. It'slike, stop bringing it out like
the Stanley Cup. You know it'snot the same. You know that those
sports are bigger, but the trophyfor hockey is just it's something really special.
You can tell this man, BobJoyce has an affection for the sport.
(01:46):
Not only does he do Yukon hockeyplay by play for the Yukon Sports
Network. Now, I was ahuge Bruins fan, but even before all
of that, he was once anemployee for the Hartford Whale and it is
today's discussion listened sports History Time,and ironically, next week is Whaler's Alumni
week and at the Yard Goats,and our friend Chuck Cat's back up here
(02:07):
next week. You're trying to gethim on the show, right, trying
to get him on the show.You have his number. I can help
you with. Our friend Dean Zappelliniis hooking all those players up, getting
them back to the Yard Goats soall those guys can wave their hats in
front of the crowd and we canhave a big Whalers weekend as we always
do. But the Whalers were oncerocking in this town and then they went
(02:30):
away. I always tell this story, and I apologize if you've heard it
before, but when I showed upand on in Hartford again, I'm a
Hurricane fan, and you know kannyakwas down North Carolina for a decade plus
and then go back to the orgo to Hartford for the first time,
went to the Xcel Center, lookedat all the jerseys up there, and
(02:50):
it's like, oh, you guys, you guys like Ron Francis too.
How did Ron? Oh that's right. So then it like hit me,
Oh yeah, the Whalers became theHurricanes. That's right. And the unsolicited
sports history I wanted for you todayis how did you find out, Bob?
How were you told Bob the Whalersare moving to Carolina? Well,
(03:16):
ironically it was on a game night. Now, what were your duties?
Like? What were you doing rightthen for the Whale? How long have
you been with the Whale? Whatwas like your history with that franchise,
Whalers the last ten years they werein in Hartford? I was basically Kurt
kaplan what Kurt is to your show? So you're running I was shot studio,
running the board, rolling on twolittle telex real to real tape machines,
(03:40):
getting highlights, putting them on cart. You remember carts filled enough in
the radio business, everything used tobe on tape back in the day.
How fresh is this building that we'reworking in? Yeah, exactly fresh?
Yeah, it is fresh. Everythingwas on carts I was in. We
were in the third floor of theCivic Center offices. Okay, chuckle up
(04:00):
on the catwalk, the same broadcastposition. We're up on the catwalk for
our games for us were chuck broadcasting, Okay, cool. We used to
have a little cabinet behind there.Used to have a little mixer and we
had a giant snake that would godown into the room and we'd hook up
the boards together. So basically itwas a couple of cough buttons and the
headsets, mikes and a headphone.At that Chuck never could get loud enough
because he was old and couldn't hearanything. So for that time, you
(04:23):
are a pretty big staple in thisfranchise as far as their broadcasting crew.
You've been there for a decade.You've seen some ups, you've seen some
downs. You are living and dyingwith this franchise. Yeah, I mean
I was also a Bruins fan too. There's some funny stories too, But
anyhow, you know, the ninetysix ninety seventh season was somewhat intriguing when
(04:44):
Peter Carmanos bought the team. Atthe time, Lowell Wiker was the governor
who just recently passed away in lastweek and later he became a shareholder in
Carmanos's company. After yes, thatwas part of the deal. So and
the intent was Carmonos he was goingto keep it well. Teams are starting
to move like Quebec. They wonthey because they had so many teams in
(05:05):
the northeast. You had Quebec,you had Montreal, you had Boston and
Hartford. He had all the NewYork teams, the Owners, the Rangers,
and the Devils at the time Flyers. So you had a very concentrated
group of teams in one general area. And the thought, I'm sure was,
let's get a couple of those teamsout of there and try to expand
and grow the game elsewhere. TheNHLs, right right, So in ninety
(05:26):
six Quebec moved to Colorado. Afterthe ninety four after the ninety four ninety
five season, they moved to Colorado, which, by the way, and
the first and the first yes,And there was a trade the next year,
and sure enough, the first yearin Denver they win the Cup.
So you start hearing rumors things aregoing to happen. Well, you know,
(05:46):
Carmanos wants into arena. Now,how much do you cross pass with
Carmanos? Not really, more sowith Jim Rutherford, the general manager.
So when you hear things, it'salmost like mister big upstairs, this shadowy
figure is making some kind of disYeah. And come to think of it,
now that you asked a question.Now, once in a while,
our late dear friend and Rob knowshim to. Arnold Dean used to have
(06:10):
Peter Karmanos and Jim Rutherford who wasthe GM at the time, on his
talk show Okay at Night. Soand Arnold was one of those guys that
you could ask a tough question ina very very personable way without trying to
really stir the hornet's nest be youknow, like you know, you get
confrontational now in these day and ageof talk radio. Arnold had that gentle,
(06:31):
gentlemanly type of thing. And Peteralways said, you know, hey,
if we get average X amount offans for a season tickets, hey
we'll think, you know, we'llcertainly consider staying. Well, they got
over thirteen I think close to thirteenthousand season tickets for the last year they
were in Hartford because they did areally hard season ticket dried the state of
(06:51):
Connecticut. The lieutenant governor, whoat the time was Jody Rell. John
Rowland was the governor, and itjust seemed like and there was even talk
a new arena. So let meget this in perspective too. You're telling
me this movement was taking a placeall across the country based on the NHL.
His conversation was taking place kind oflike nineteen ninety five, Yeah,
(07:12):
starting then to when the move happens, So it's not like out of the
blue. People know that. Justabsolutely it was being talked about, and
of course it gained momentum once Quebecmoved, so they thought, oh,
are we next, and the ticketdrive was a big part of it.
And then you know, hey,you know every time we as consumers answered
(07:32):
the bell for a team, bythe way, that hadn't made the playoffs
since nineteen ninety two, so you'retalking about, you know, five years
without a playoff Berth here and theystill you know, I think the average
attendance was like ninety percent capacity forthe season. But as we're getting closer
and closer, from what I rememberand what I've been told, there was
(07:56):
a battle for a new arena.And it seemed like every time the state
and it was more or less GovernorRoland versus Peter Karmanos, that the state
met what they want, what thewhalers wanted, and what Peter Carmanos wanted.
He upped the bar a little bitevery single time, and it got
to a point where the governor saidthat's it. We're done, just can't
(08:18):
do it anymore. And I wouldthink Gary Bettman, who's still the commissioner
of the NHL, had something todo with let's get him out of Hartford.
I mean, fans are convinced ofthat, and I wouldn't be the
least bit surprised by that. ButI found out it was late March of
ninety seven when it was official.The Whalers were getting ready to play Colorado
(08:41):
ironically in Hartford, and the gamewas like at seven, and the six
o'clock news comes on and TV stationsare breaking breaking news that the deal's off,
the Whalers are moving. So youfind out from the news. Yeah,
and you're not in the building.No, I'm in the build.
I'm in the building. I'm inthe Civic Center, getting ready for standing
(09:03):
around. It's probably myself and MarioCahar, my cohort engineer slash producer for
the network. Yeah, we're probablyin the radio room. I think maybe
we were in downstairs the media mealwhen this all happened. So yeah,
and you now you've been in theXcel Center enough. You know that press
(09:26):
area that's way way in the backthat was the old hockey press box way
way up there. Yeah, it'sit's kind of creepy up there, very
creepy when there's nobody there. Yeah, but yeah, there was just a
buzz going around and and even upuntil the very last day, the last
week of the season, they werein the hunt for the playoffs. They
(09:46):
had four games left, two home, two them away. They played on
it. They played Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday to end the season.
They were still in position to makethe playoffs. I think there were
seventh or eighth at the time.They beat Buffalo at home Place goes nuts.
Jeff Sanderson scored a late goal.I think they won like five three
something like that, and they're allcharged up. Ottawa meanwhile is making a
(10:07):
late charge like the Whalers did ineighty six. Ottawa came back in the
league. Ninety two, ninety threeI think is when they came back and
they were looking for their first playoffberth while they were getting hot in the
month of March, Whalers went thereto Ottawa. Ottawa beat them five four,
back and forth game. Okay,Whalers are still like eighth, So
(10:28):
they go to New York to playthe Islanders, on a Friday night.
I will never forget this. I'min the room. They win, they
put themselves in position to make theplayoffs. On Sunday at home against Tampa
Bay, they stunk it up andthe Islanders were not very good back then.
They lost like four to one.Just a terrible performance Friday, and
(10:50):
the same night Ottawa wins. Iforget who they played, and then they
played and now it's like Whalers needhelp. Ottawa plays a Ttroit on a
Saturday night, Ottawa beats Detroit ina league goal. Ottawas in the playoffs.
So it's like the writings on thewall Sunday is it? Everyone in
(11:13):
town knows. Everyone knows the towngame that everyone talks about that I was
at. I was at, Iwas at. It was a very surreal
day for me. Um. Itwas a combination of work because we did
a retrospective on the whole thing thatI had been working on for the radio
station, and go play a gameof deck hockey in the morning in Bloomfield
(11:37):
and then come back and it wasjust a very surreal day. It feels
like everyone knew, but nobody wastalking about it. Yeah, I mean,
there's still plenty of video. Imean the whole games on TV on
YouTube, you look up on YouTube, but it was, as John Forslin
opened it up, a meaningless ameaningless game with a whole lot of meaning,
(11:58):
and it was just kind of aback and fourth game. It was
two to one, neither team wasgoing to the playoffs. It was just
a way to wrap it up.But there wasn't a seat to be found,
Banners all over the place, alot of tears, nobody wanted to
leave when the game was over.Kevin Denine scored the last goal early in
the third period that proved to bethe game winner. Kind of appropriate,
(12:20):
but it was just one of thosesurreal days and fans didn't really know what
to do when the game was overbecause it was the end. And I
think Chuck eloquently said it, youknow, fans are just trying to take
in what's left of the NHL andHartford and that was it. And then
maybe a little over a month later, if even that, the announcement was
(12:41):
there going to Carolina and that's theend of the Hartford Whalers. When did
would they won the Stanley Cup shortlyafter two thousand and six? How did
that feel for this community. Somepeople were still very bitter. I wasn't
because I was happy for Chuck,because Chuck saw a lot of bad hockey
(13:03):
in this time here. They gotto the finals at O two, which
was a surprise, and then theylost to Detroit. The Red Wings were
really really good back then. Butwhen they won it in ninety six or
two thousand and six, I wasreally happy for Chuck and I and enjoyed
the run. I tried to listen, I would play hi, I would
I think I filled in or atleast would make sure we get a highlight
(13:24):
or two because people loved to Chuck. Chuck was the voice of our team,
and Chuck has forever loved here.You know that he comes back.
He's as big an attraction as someof the as the players are, and
I was just really happy to seehim be able to get his trophy.
I was happy for Jim Rutherford,who was the GM at the time.
Carmano so I didn't really didn't reallymatter to me but Jim, But Jim,
(13:46):
Jim, Jim was a genuinely goodguy. He really really hoped that
it was things were going to workout in Hartford. Ultimately they didn't,
but Yeah, it was just awhole bizarre thing to see. And you
know, people are hoping and prayingthat someday we get a team back.
But the first things first, theydidn't new arena because even putting lipstick on
(14:07):
this pigger, getting it refurbished isnot going to be the answer. There's
so many things inside that need tobe need to be redone. When that
game ended, did you run toany locker room and try to start stealing
stuff and put it in your No, I had to bowl back down the
street down when the when when thestudios were in Hartford, we were at
the Gold Building and we had theretrospective show on the team, and they
(14:31):
we got tons and tons of calls. It was a really good, well
done show. Fans are just voicingtheir displeasure and giving us great memories.
I had a top ten list ofa great Whaler highlights. Yeah. In
fact, we even ended up replayingit like a week later because people who
went to the game wanted to hearit. I really do think the fan
base should be proud of how thebrand has lasted. It's incredible, it
(14:54):
really is. And what we're goingto do next week with the Whalers weekend
at yard Goods, which will bewell tended, and how the yard Goats
themselves embraced the colors. When thehome run hits, they play the brass
bananza. Same with our friends overthere at the Athletic like they're blue and
green for a reason. It isbecause of the Hartford Whale. I just
I think is that from what youdid, from what Chuck did for everyone
(15:18):
that as a fan that went thereto bring that brand up, to keep
it lasting what it is. There'sa reason that they sell the jersey in
the airport and is still flying offthe shelves like it's one of the great
logos in sports if you if youthink about it, the way it's set
up, it's got everything in there, and people, some people to this
day say well, where's the Hin it? It's smack dab in the
(15:41):
middle right between the whale tail andW there's an H there and that H
is from an old marketing plan ofthe heartbeat of Hartford and it the designs
and the guy who just made thelogo recently died when in the last six
months, right, Yeah, it'sit's a great logo. It was updated
a little bit when Brian Burke wasthe GM in the early nineties, just
(16:03):
added a little more great to itand still very sharp. But that logo
has stood the test of time andit's still one of the hottest selling logos
in the NHL. Well, thanksfor sharing that with us. I think
that it's just you're so fascinating withall the little ins and outs of Connecticut
sports that you've had, and Ithink that that moment right there is a
fascinating one for a lot of peopletoo, because I think, you know,
(16:23):
people have lived that moment in thiscommunity in so many different angles,
and your angle is awesome one tolook at as well.
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