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Whalers Nights

Hopefully Chuck isn't too bitter about things and is willing to come back for that. He should spend time in the booth with John and Tripp for the Dec 23rd game.
 
there is a very simple reason Canadian fans and media are ticked about southern/western teams - they win titles and Canadian teams don't - since 1993.
 
I would love to see the Canes build a Cup winner in next 2-3 years again. It would be equally pleasing to see this happen before the Leaf/Tavares media hype machine was able to win one! That is my dream.
 
I don't really care too much either way. I thought it was kind of a cool idea, but it didn't rise to the level of mattering too much to me. I'm surprised that folks on this board seem to have such strong feelings about it. I figured there'd be folks making a big issue of it in the media or in Hartford etc.

It's clearly done as a money making idea - which I'm ok with - I know we all thing professional teams' purpose in life is to amuse us, when in fact it's to make money for the people who work there or own the teams, venues, etc.

I understand feeling salty about what's gone on for the last 20 years but I don't see what makes this trashy or classless. I guess I could see that if they were doing this with the purpose of rubbing salt in the wounds, or to stir up controversy but I don't think that's it.
 
E. Staal, Ward and Kaiton should all be honored in the rafters. NCSU has their longtime PA guy in the rafters.

Agree on Kaiton. Let's wait until Staal and Ward are done playing first, and even then I am torn on Ward in the rafters. Staal....absolutely.

Ward has two lenses you can judge him through. One view is he owns pretty much every Canes goalie career record, was the face of the franchise for a decade, and has a Conn Smythe to his name and Cup. The other view was he was never considered an elite goalie in the league (never finished higher than 7th in Vezina voting (twice), had one truly very good statistical year ('10-'11), and mostly never led team to playoffs. Over half his career, he was a bottom half of league goalie.

I think the Canes will retire his jersey, but I hope the Canes are successful enough over next 100 years that someone looks back on his retired number and says "Really?" at some point.
 
I do like the look of the new Whalers jersey.....if I didn't already have my newer Slavin jersey and my Whalers jersey that I used to wear to Whalers games from the 90s I would buy one of these new ones. They should definitely auction off the game worn jerseys for charity or Florence relief efforts after they wear them. Get them signed and get them out there for auction...those should bring in a pretty tidy sum.
 
Throwback jerseys are not be same thing.


There are numerous reasons why Colorado has never worn the Nords sweater, etc. This is not ground I want to break. This is not MLB. This is not just a throwback jersey.

Why isn't it a throwback jersey? Throwback just means a jersey from the past. As I and others pointed out , this happens in other pro sports. And lots of teams have moved to a different city. Some teams moved twice like the Braves who were in Boston and Milwaukee . and the Raiders moved to LA , back to Oakland and soon to Las Vegas.

And why have other NHL teams not done this ? Remember that the NHL is much more reliant on ticket sales than the MLB, NFL or NBA. Those 3 leagues have much more TV revenue than the NHL.
 
I have to say that seeing Justin Williams in a Whalers jersey made my week. Not all Whalers fans are bitter. Unfortunately the ones that are have the biggest mouths and are flapping them online and elsewhere. Connecticut lost the team and they have nobody to blame but themselves. Which is the precise reason i have continued to follow them closely all these years. I respect the opinions of those who have adopted this team being a little peeved but would only wish to point out to them that we are not all bitter and twisted. Some of us are passionate fans who continue to live and die with this hockey club. And it means a lot to me to see the heritage finally married back into the present day, even if the motivation behind it is obviously rooted in the team's balance sheet.
 
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US population is moving south and west so pro teams are moving where the people are going. (yes I know Thrashers moved to Winnipeg that's a rare example of moving north)
 
I have to say that seeing Justin Williams in a Whalers jersey made my week. Not all Whalers fans are bitter. Unfortunately the ones that are have the biggest mouths and are flapping them online and elsewhere. Connecticut lost the team and they have nobody to blame but themselves. Which is the precise reason i have continued to follow them closely all these years. I respect the opinions of those who have adopted this team being a little peeved but would only wish to point out to them that we are not all bitter and twisted. Some of us are passionate fans who continue to live and die with this hockey club. And it means a lot to me to see the heritage finally married back into the present day, even if the motivation behind it is obviously rooted in the team's balance sheet.

👍 :cheers2:
 
We didn't come out and support them, bottom line. The last season i had season tix next to a guy who traveled down from Albany for every game because he was a big hockey fan who couldn't stand the Rangers. Meanwhile, folks in New Haven and Fairfield county wouldn't make the trip up interstate 91 if you paid them. The year we traded Francis, we drew a little more than 4,000 people for a playoff game. A PLAYOFF GAME! Just too much apathy combined with a governor who incorrectly assumed that he had the NFL in his back pocket.
 
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and that governor, Rowland, later spent 2 separate stints in prison.
Yeah, i'm certainly no Karmanos apologist, but he reached out to Rowland on several occasions to try to negotiate a way to stay, and he didn't even acknowledge Petey until it became way late in the game. And when he did, he basically told him he wasn't going to help out.
 
I have to say that seeing Justin Williams in a Whalers jersey made my week. Not all Whalers fans are bitter. Unfortunately the ones that are have the biggest mouths and are flapping them online and elsewhere. Connecticut lost the team and they have nobody to blame but themselves. Which is the precise reason i have continued to follow them closely all these years. I respect the opinions of those who have adopted this team being a little peeved but would only wish to point out to them that we are not all bitter and twisted. Some of us are passionate fans who continue to live and die with this hockey club. And it means a lot to me to see the heritage finally married back into the present day, even if the motivation behind it is obviously rooted in the team's balance sheet.

That makes me feel better.

Yeah, i'm certainly no Karmanos apologist, but he reached out to Rowland on several occasions to try to negotiate a way to stay, and he didn't even acknowledge Petey until it became way late in the game. And when he did, he basically told him he wasn't going to help out.

Wasn't Rowland too busy trying to get the Pats to move to the site that Rentschler Field now sits on? And he only had the bandwidth for 1 owner at a time?
 
I have to say that seeing Justin Williams in a Whalers jersey made my week. Not all Whalers fans are bitter. Unfortunately the ones that are have the biggest mouths and are flapping them online and elsewhere. Connecticut lost the team and they have nobody to blame but themselves. Which is the precise reason i have continued to follow them closely all these years. I respect the opinions of those who have adopted this team being a little peeved but would only wish to point out to them that we are not all bitter and twisted. Some of us are passionate fans who continue to live and die with this hockey club. And it means a lot to me to see the heritage finally married back into the present day, even if the motivation behind it is obviously rooted in the team's balance sheet.

I have no problem with any if this. My aggravation is with the shortsightedness of the owner. Either he has no clue, or simply doesn't care if this is a sensitive subject for many people. I've just personally, had enough of the talk, criticism, and attitude towards the Canes. ESPN did everything they could to disrespect the franchise. And many people felt it perfectly acceptable to follow suit. For 20+ years I've heard it. Honestly, I'm just sick of hearing it. Winning the cup didn't end the disrespect. And we've got assclown drunks like Jeff Oneill still slamming the city and team. Improved attendance didn't end it. And now we've had a garbage team for 10 years, support fell off, and we are still the butt of the NHL world. Wearing the Hartford uniform isn't going to fix this. I think it makes it worse. But thats my minority opinion on the subject.

My opinion mattets not. If I cut all alliances with the franchise, no one will care. Not Tom Dundon, not anyone else. But this move still really, really bothers me.

And I'll end my rants on this topic here and now.
 
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