This Day In Sports History; April 13th

The last day of Whalers hockey.

24 years ago today, the Hartford Whalers defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in their last game ever to be played in Hartford. Captain Kevin Dineen scored the game winner, and just a month later on May 6th, owner Peter Karmanos announced that the team would be moving to North Carolina and become the Carolina Hurricanes.

When Karmanos purchased the Whalers in 1994, he pledged to keep the team in Connecticut but ultimately turned his back on the state of Connecticut and the city of Hartford.

It really is baffling that the house that Howe built was just swept right out from under the state of Connecticut. Ron Francis and Glen Wesley were still playing for the Whalers at the time of the move, taking two super star players out of Hartford along with the team.

The reason for the move was that in 1996, Karmanos was unhappy with attendance and the lack of corporate support. He released a statement saying that if the Whalers were unable to sell at least 11,000 season tickets for the ‘96-’97 season, he would move the team.

But, there was a catch.

The Whalers ownership only made season tickets available in full-season (41-game) packages, eliminating the popular six, nine, ten, and twenty game packages. Why you may ask, Karmanos wanted corporations and wealthy individuals to buy tickets, not the common man.

This was the ultimate demise of the Whalers team that moved south to North Carolina. Since the move, the Hurricanes have won one Stanley Cup and two conference championships. The Whalers never won a Stanley Cup.