April 13, 1997: The Hartford Whalers defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 2-1 at the Hartford Civic Center. Since the Whalers did not make the Playoffs, this was their last game, as they were being moved to become the Carolina Hurricanes.
They were founded in 1972 as the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association -- the name reflecting not only New England's maritime tradition, but the league: WHAlers. They won the league's 1st title in 1972, and reached the Final again in 1978.
They entered the NHL in 1979, changing their name to the Hartford Whalers (and adopting the logo where the W for Whalers was easy to see, but the H for Hartford wasn't), but only won 1 Playoff series, in 1986 over fellow WHA graduates the Quebec Nordiques, and only won 1 regular-season Division title, the next season.
They played at the Boston Arena (later the Matthews Arena) in the 1972-73 season, the Boston Garden in 1973-74, and the Big E Coliseum in West Springfield, Massachusetts in 1974-75, before the Hartford Civic Center opened. A 1978 roof collapse forced them to the nearby Springfield Civic Center (now the MassMutual Center) for 2 years.
Ultimately, they left because the Hartford Civic Center -- since renamed the XL Center and now the PeoplesBank Arena -- was too small and didn't have the precious luxury boxes. It also didn't help that Hartford is about halfway between New York, with 3 NHL teams in its metropolitan area (one of which, the Rangers, replaced the Whalers with a farm team, the Hartford Wolf Pack), and Boston, with the established Bruins.
But their attendance in Raleigh has barely been enough to fill their old arena. Maybe they should have stayed put.
From 1874 to 1877, Hartford was home to the Hartford Dark Blues, of the National Association and then the National league, but the couldn't compete in the NL, and folded. The Hartford Blues played in the NFL in the 1926 season, but only in that season. The Connecticut Bicentennials played in New Haven in the North American Soccer League in the 1975, 1976 and 1977 seasons.
But with the demise of the Whalers, the only sports team in Connecticut that could even remotely be called "major league" are the Connecticut Sun of the WNBA, who have played at Mohegan Sun Arena, at the Mohegan Sun casino resort in Montville, Connecticut since 2003.
UPDATE: In 2025, the XL Center was renamed the PeoplesBank Arena.
The Whalers retired 3 uniform numbers: 2, for defenseman Rick Ley; 9, for right wing Gordie Howe; and 19, for right wing John McKenzie. In 2006, arena management also hung banners for 5, defenseman Ulf Samuelsson; 10, center Ron Francis; and 11, right wing Kevin Dineen. The Whalers did not retire that number.
The Hurricanes have retired 4 numbers: Francis' 10; 2, for defenseman Glen Wesley; 12, for center Eric Staal; and 17, for center Rod Brind'Amour. They have also removed from circulation, without officially retiring them, Howe's 9; 3, for defenseman Steve Chiasson; and 63, for center Josef Vašíček. Francis and Brind'Amour have also been elected to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.
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April 13, 1997 was a Sunday. There were 6 other games in the NHL:
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-4 at the CoreStates Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.
* The Boston Bruins beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 7-3 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.
* The Washington Capitals beat the Buffalo Sabres, 8-3 at the Marine Midland Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Dallas Stars, 5-2 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.
* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Colorado Avalanche, 4-2 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.
Football was out of season. There were 5 games played in the NBA:
* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, 132-123 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. Despite the defeat, Kerry Kittles scored 40 points for the Nets.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Chicago Bulls, 108-91 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 113-73 at The Summit in Houston. (It's now the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Utah Jazz, 100-98 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Shaquille O'Neal scored 39 points.
* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Golden State Warriors, 105-97 at the San Jose Arena. The Warriors played that season there, now known as the SAP Center, while the Oakland Coliseum complex's arena was under renovation.
And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees split a doubleheader with the Oakland Athletics at Yankee Stadium, after a rainout the day before. The Yanks won the opener, 3-2. Andy Pettitte was the winning pitcher. Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams hit home runs. The A's won the nightcap, 7-4. Ariel Prieto outpitched Ramiro Mendoza. Mark Whiten hit a home run for the Yankees. Gerónimo Berroa went 4-for-5 for the A's.
* The New York Mets were swept by the San Francisco Giants in a doubleheader at Shea Stadium, 5-1 and 7-6. As with the Yankees, the Mets had been rained out the day before. Mark Gardner outpitched Mark Clark in the 1st game. Jeff Kent hit a home run for the Giants, and John Olerud hit one for the Mets.
Shawn Estes outpitched Bobby Jones in the 2nd game. Mark Lewis hit 2 home runs, and José Vizcaíno hit 1. Bernard Gilkey hit 1 for the Mets. Over the 2 games, Barry Bonds went 2-for-7 with 2 walks and an RBI.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ken Griffey Jr. went 1-for-4.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-4.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Texas Rangers, 9-0 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Jimmy Key pitched a 6-hit shutout. Jeffrey Hammonds hit 2 home runs, and Cal Ripken and Chris Hoiles also homered.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 14-5 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* The Anaheim Angels beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-3 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland. Eddie Murray hit a home run, but Rickey Henderson, in his only season with the Angels, did not play.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Florida Marlins, 6-4 at Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium) in Cincinnati.
* A doubleheader was split at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Chicago White Sox won the 1st game, 11-8. The Detroit Tigers led 7-0 after 5 innings, but the South Siders came back, and scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th to send the game to extra innings. Each team scored a run in the 11th. The White Sox scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the top of the 12th, and added 2 more runs. The Tigers won the 2nd game, 4-2.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 6-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
* And the Montreal Expos beat the Colorado Rockies, 8-3 at Coors Field in Denver.
This was also the day that Tiger Woods won his 1st major golf tournament, running away with the Masters. I have a separate entry for that event.
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