HARTFORD, Conn. – Many Connecticut hockey fans, including young ones, are now rooting for the New York Rangers as the Hartford Wolf Pack has served as a farm club in the American Hockey League since 1997.
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In the crowd at the XL Center, a teenager wears Alexis Lafrenière’s Rangers jersey. Chosen first overall by the New York team in the 2020 draft, the Quebecer did not have to go through Hartford, in the American League, before making the jump directly from the Rimouski Océanic to the Rangers .
A little further on, a poster in French attracts attention. “Congratulations Alex Belzile! From your two biggest fans!”, we can read there to highlight his selection for the American League all-star games. No doubt people from Montreal or even Saint-Éloi, in Bas-Saint-Laurent…
Katlin and Sean Cornell, an American couple who adore Quebecer Alex Belzile, had prepared a sign in French for the Wolf Pack game marking the 50th anniversary of professional hockey in Hartford, Saturday January 11, 2025, at the XL Center.
Photo Benoît Rioux
Happily married Katlin and Sean Cornell are indeed Connecticut natives and are proud members of the Hartford Wolf Pack Booster Club. They are crazy about Belzile and, according to them, it is high time that those nostalgic for the Whalers come back from this departure dating back to 1997.
Alex Belzile, in the Hartford Wolf Pack uniform.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY HARTFORD WOLF PACK
“We have to move forward and encourage the Wolf Pack,” says Sean. Otherwise, for the National Hockey League, I would say that Connecticut fans are now mostly divided between the Rangers and the Bruins, due to the proximity to Massachusetts.
-Hurricanes fans
There are indeed many Rangers jerseys at Wolf Pack matches. However, there are fewer Bruins fans showing up.
Photo Benoît Rioux
“Around Hartford, there are already four NHL teams,” argues the Wolf Pack fan. You have the Bruins, in Boston, then three clubs in the New York area with the Rangers, the Islanders and the Devils. We can talk about the Whalers to celebrate the 50the anniversary of professional hockey here, but they will never come back.
Among the members of the Hartford Whalers Booster Club, there is no question of encouraging the Rangers and even less the Bruins, former rivals of the Adams division.
“After the Whalers left, I lined up behind the Hurricanes,” says club president Mark Anderson. My favorite player was Ron Francis, and after his time in Pittsburgh, I couldn’t see myself rooting for any team other than the one Ron Francis would now play for, the Hurricanes. Otherwise, I hated the Bruins too much to support them anymore.”
Surprising diversity
This is probably what was most striking last Saturday at the XL Center: the diversity of jerseys worn by fans. For this special evening of the 50e birthday, the tide was mostly green and white. “Gordie Howe” inscriptions were numerous. It was also possible to see a Mike Liut jersey and, even more hidden, one of André Lacroix.
The crowd was made up of 10,074 fans at the XL Center on Saturday, January 11, 2025, during the Wolf Pack game celebrating the 50th anniversary of professional hockey in Hartford.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY HARTFORD WOLF PACK
A Charlestown Chiefs jersey honoring Steve Carlson, who oddly played alongside Gordie Howe in the World Hockey Association for the New England Whalers. Then a Chicago Blackhawks jersey, with the double zero and the name Griswold, a reference to the character of Chevy Chase in the film The tree has balls. In the lot, a sweater from Pierre Turgeon, former number 77 of the Montreal Canadiens. His brother, Sylvain, was selected in the first round, second overall, by the Whalers in 1983.
