OT: Who's your hockey team?

[FfldCntyFan]

Yeah the Cat was a strange fellow.

I mentioned Hadfield above. I loved the G-A-G line. (Hadfield and Gilbert centered by Ratelle) how about the original chief?

Johnny Bucyk.! Hell of a player (wish we had him).

 

[Waquoit]

I stopped watching hockey the day the Whale said they were leaving town. I'm a sour old grouch about it and I don't care.

Didn't you used to play?

 

[Deepster]

Didn't you used to play?

A little. Not for a long, long time though.

 

[Catsailor]

Rangers are my team.

Mau, after my UConn days, I lived in LA 1981-86, attended Art Center College of Design. I worked briefly for photographer John Zimmerman who was the first to shoot the SI swimsuit girls. I was an assistant on a Lowenbrau Ad. Ron Duguay's 1st wife was the model leaning on a Corvette holding a Lowenbrau bottle. The shoot lasted all day with many skimpy wardrobe changes. I met with her for some testing shots. I did lots of that in those days. She was a beauty and the shots turned out great. When I returned to CT I saw a Lowenbrau poster from that shoot hanging over my bicycle mechanics work station. Due to pressure from MADD the bottle in her hand was replaced by a frisbee.

My son played hockey for many years. One of the AAA travel teams he played on from East Haven was run by several fathers who worked for the Whalers.

The Whalers became our second team.

 

[FrostyNuggets]

Have not been able to pick up a team since the Whale left, I was thinking it would come to me in time...it hasn't. Been a Sox-Patriots-Celtics fan ever since I can remember, I would sooner become a Yankee fan then follow the Bruins.

The closest I came to accepting a team was a couple years ago when I caught a game in my company's box in MSG. Rod Gilbert was making the rounds to the corporate suites. It was the end of the 2d period by the time he got to our box and he reminded me of the baby delivery Stork in Bugs Bunny cartoons who could not stop hiccupping. Upon hearing a friend of mine played D1 soccer years ago, Rod called him a puuuuu$$$$$$ie, with his thick French-Canadian accent. I thought I had found my team........but it did not stick.

 

[B1GEast]

I remember going to a Whalers game against the Bruins, they had a lot of fans in the civic center, but it was a full house, and those damn Bruins fans cheered there team to victory after being down 3 to 1 for most of the game.

The whaler fans were so timid and couldn't match the intensity of Bruin fans. After that loss, I hated them even more

 

[7774Bo]

After a certain team left Hartford I was in a hockey no mans land until I went local and became a Devil's fan. There was no chance of ever being a Rangers or Bruins guy so I got on board with Marty, the Scotts, Arnott, and my boy Patrick Elias. Never looked back and now I only wear Devil's gear.
(That other team, they're dead to me).

Now that UConn hockey is becoming more relevant I get my hockey fix all season at the XL.
How could you not be on the same side as the legendary David Puddy.

 

[uconn1999]

Dallas Stars

 

[Waquoit]

I remember going to a Whalers game against the Bruins...

I watched an epic brawl in the 300's seats that started in Row 15 and ended up in Row 20 or so as each side worked to capture the higher ground. Sun Tzu was big back then.
One guy had his dress shirt ripped right off his back. All that was left on him were the cuffs. Now that's a quality shirt. I can still see they guy being hauled off by the cops with handcuffs carefully placed over those shirt cuffs.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Back on this, the one team I hated was the mid-1970's Flyers (Broad Street Bullies). What they played wasn't hockey, it was a rugby scrum on ice. The set the game back decades and the NHL stood by and let them do it.

 

[mauconnfan]

Rangers are my team.

Mau, after my UConn days, I lived in LA 1981-86, attended Art Center College of Design. I worked briefly for photographer John Zimmerman who was the first to shoot the SI swimsuit girls. I was an assistant on a Lowenbrau Ad. Ron Duguay's 1st wife was the model leaning on a Corvette holding a Lowenbrau bottle. The shoot lasted all day with many skimpy wardrobe changes. I met with her for some testing shots. I did lots of that in those days. She was a beauty and the shots turned out great. When I returned to CT I saw a Lowenbrau poster from that shoot hanging over my bicycle mechanics work station. Due to pressure from MADD the bottle in her hand was replaced by a frisbee.

My son played hockey for many years. One of the AAA travel teams he played on from East Haven was run by several fathers who worked for the Whalers.

The Whalers became our second team.

Great story thanks for sharing!

 

[Danpisco12]

Chose the Devils after the Whalers left when I was a kid. Worked out pretty well for awhile, not so great lately.

 

[The Viking]

I tried rooting for the Islanders because I really hate the Bruins and their fans and kind of hated the Rangers and their fans.
Then I started watching an Islanders game and after one period I gave up.
Since then I have rooted for the NHL to invite all their teams to an event at the same time, hoping that every NHL plane would collide in mid air. I've also rooted for Karmanos and Bettman to be castrated somewhere in public by an angry Whalers fan. 0-for 2. So far.

As for the Wolfpack, please. I'm not going to see a baby Rangers team with a bunch of Rangers fans in the Whalers building.

UConn hockey has finally filled the void. Hard to complain about Hockey East hockey, it's great. $210 or whatever for a season ticket, our row is right near the Sam Adams beer vendor, so is the pisser.

Thank god for the move to HE. The one thing I congratulate Malloy on.

 

[FDNY99]

I was a diehard Whaler fan till the day they left...now I hope there is a special place in hockey hell for Karmanos and Bettman! I started to follow the Wolfpack and by default the NY Rangers because I couldn't root for the Bruins being a Yankee, Giant and Knick fan. When I was hired by the FDNY in 99 it made my allegiance very easy. I also have season tickets to UConn Hockey which is my favorite team 1B. I also follow the Sabers, Red Wings and Maple Leafs. A straight up hockey junkie I buy the NHL Center Ice tv package every year too.

 

[Fishy]

1) UConn

2) I am a huge bandwagon Rangers' fan. If they're not winning, I don't care. If they are, I do.

 

[jbreen]

Go Senators

 

[Waquoit]

Back on this, the one team I hated was the mid-1970's Flyers (Broad Street Bullies). What they played wasn't hockey, it was a rugby scrum on ice. The set the game back decades and the NHL stood by and let them do it.

As I mentioned, I was a Bruins fan at the time and I felt the same way. The fact is the Bruins called themselves big and bad but when they played the Flyers, they turtled. I remember Orr and Espo bringing Kate Smith flowers. Wussies.

 

[Dove]

When the Whale left I actually tried to give the Canadiens a try. I just found myself without passion for hockey anymore.

So, UCONN.

#icebus

 

[Mr. French]

I stopped watching hockey entirely after the Whalers left town and only recently started watching again, after adopting a new team. But finding a new team was tricky. Here are the traditional "post-Whaler" candidates:

• Bruins: Oh hell no. Old rivals from the Adams Division. Forget that.
• Rangers: I never liked them and would feel weird picking an NYC team I wasn't born with.
• Hurricanes: This is like rooting for the guy who stole your wife. Next.
• Islanders: Rooting for a Long Island team is even worse than rooting for an NYC team. It's like another planet.
• Sabres: I can't watch them locally, but their uniform DOES have two swords on it. And they're pretty terrible, just like the Whalers.

So I ended up settling on the Sabres. Bonus that I was born in NY, but not NYC, so it... sorta makes sense? Plus I always liked their uniforms as a kid. Like I said, TWO SWORDS.

Did you pick a hockey team after the Whalers left? If so, who, and why?

I didn't read this whole thread, but I am born and raised and still live in Buffalo, so hockey being my least favorite sport i still am a huge sabres fan.

I like the choice, and they're doing a lot of exciting things with a young, talented roster, but unfortunately during their run they got 2 potential great players but missed on 2-3 potential superstars, so that stings but their future is bright.

And Buffalo is a great, in many ways, sports fan base, so you could do worse.

 

[Dove]

I didn't read this whole thread, but I am born and raised and still live in Buffalo, so hockey being my least favorite sport i still am a huge sabres fan.

I like the choice, and they're doing a lot of exciting things with a young, talented roster, but unfortunately during their run they got 2 potential great players but missed on 2-3 potential superstars, so that stings but their future is bright.

And Buffalo is a great, in many ways, sports fan base, so you could do worse.

Clint Malarchuk, baby!!

 

[mauconnfan]

Go Senators

Hockey not baseball

 

[Moody Magic]

Stars. Off to rough start this year but Benn and Seguin are ready for late 90s Stars like run.

 

[FDNY99]

Dallas Stars. Off to rough start this year but Benn and Seguin are ready for late 90s Stars like run.

Moody if Dallas had pulled the trigger on a Cam Talbot trade with the Rangers last year at the draft they would be in my mind the favorite for the Cup coming out of the west this year.

 

[Moody Magic]

Moody if Dallas had pulled the trigger on a Cam Talbot trade with the Rangers last year at the draft they would be in my mind the favorite for the Cup coming out of the west this year.

Fans here are still pissed Nill didn't make a move in the off season. Lehtonen & Niemi are way too inconsistent.

 

[FDNY99]

Fans here are still pissed Nill didn't make a move in the off season. Lehtonen & Niemi are way too inconsistent.

A good solid trade scenario would be a 3-way trade between the Stars, Pens and Rangers....Stars get Lundqvist and Staal, Rangers get Fluery and Klingberg, Pens get Sharp and Lehtonen