Christopher Price - Bleeding Green: A History of the Hartford Whalers

The Hartford Whalers left town a quarter century ago, longer than their entire stay. Yet they endure beyond imagination. The logo remains a classic, their colors resonate, and so does the fight song, Brass Bonanza. They won just one Stanley Cup playoff series. Doesnt matter. Christopher Prices first sentence rings forever true: They were our team.

Chris Berman

The staying power of the Hartford Whalers and the brand is very intriguing and fascinating. Current NHL teams are probably envious of the Whalers brand stickiness. Christopher Price breaks down why in this buried treasure of hockey history.

John Buccigross, ESPN

The Hartford Whalers have proved as unforgettable as the opening bars of Brass Bonanza. Now heres Christopher Price, reviving a story that is fun, fascinating, and nearly impossible to put down.

Dan Wetzel, national columnist for Yahoo Sports

This book was such a fun trip down memory lane, reliving those great memories I have of the Whalers as a kid growing up in New England and learning how the iconic Brass Bonanza came to be!

Jamison Coyle, NHL Network

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F IGURE F OUNDATION

Christopher Price

University of Nebraska Press | Lincoln

2022 by Christopher Price

Cover designed by University of Nebraska Press.

Author photo Julie Cornell.

All rights reserved

The University of Nebraska Press is part of a land-grant institution with campuses and programs on the past, present, and future homelands of the Pawnee, Ponca, Otoe-Missouria, Omaha, Dakota, Lakota, Kaw, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Peoples, as well as those of the relocated Ho-Chunk, Sac and Fox, and Iowa Peoples.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Price, Christopher, 1969 author.

Title: Bleeding green: a history of the Hartford Whalers / Christopher Price.

Description: Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2022.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022005487

ISBN 9781496222008 (hardback)

ISBN 9781496234216 (epub)

ISBN 9781496234223 (pdf)

Subjects: LCSH : Hartford Whalers (Hockey team)History.

Classification: LCC GV 848. H 37 P 75 2022 | DDC 796.962/640973dc23/eng/20220209

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022005487

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

For Mom

Wait, youre doing a hockey book?

That was the reaction that a lot of friends and family had when I told them about this project. I loved all sports growing up, but if you told me when I was in my twenties Id write a book about hockey before, say, one on basketball, I would have thought you were crazy. But the Whalers do crazy things to you, I guess.

I can say, This is a hockey book. But really, this is a hockey book in the same way that Field of Dreams is a movie about baseball or He Got Game is about basketball. Hockey is the backdrop, sure. But you should think of this as a love story between a region and a team and a fan base that, for a relatively brief period, took them in as their own. I lived that relationship, and thats what is at the heart of this book. I wish you all could feel the same level of excitement I did when I picked up the phone one morning and heard the words Hey, Chris, Ron Francis here. I would love to have the fiftysomething version of me be able to reach the sixteen-year-old Christopher Price and let him know, One day, youll have Kevin Dineens phone number... and hes going to call you back to tell you more stories about Brass Bonanza.

Honestly, this was a very weird book to write. A sizable chunk of this book was done during a worldwide pandemic. In many ways, writing it helped keep me sane, especially after we all went into lockdown. When I was out of balance mentally and worried I was going to tip over, this project was a great way to shut the door and tune out the rest of the world. Honestly, being able to put the blinders on and write about the 1986 Whalers was great escapist therapy. There were times where I absolutely needed this project.

Really, this book took a long freaking timesix years from the initial idea to final product. In that time, I changed agents and had three different full-time jobs. (In between the start and finish of this project, two other booksDrive for Five and The Ultimate Football Trivia Bookhave come and gone. Both are still availablecheck your local bookstores!) But with all my heart, I believe it was worth it. Oh, indeed. Every writer should be lucky enough to have at least one story like this in him or her, whether a newspaper story, magazine piece, or book. I really love all my other books, but I have a unique sense of ownership when it comes to this story and this team. Not since Baseball by the Beach has a story hit me this personally. It makes me happy and proud to be able to bring it to the world.

So who gets the credit? This might be the first book where the acknowledgments are longer than the actual manuscript. There are roughly a half million people who had a hand in this project (trust meIm only mildly exaggerating), and they all deserve a shout-out for allowing this to see the light of day. So settle in.

Lets start at the beginning with superagent Alec Shane. When I was looking to jump-start the second phase of my career as an author a few years ago, after a conversation with my wife (more on that in a second), I ran a bunch of book ideas past him. Most were dismissed relatively quickly, but he thought there was some potential with a history of the Whalers. It wasnt a straight line from idea to bookthere were a few stops along the way. We fought and scrapped and worked to make this thing a reality. Alec, this wouldnt have come to fruition without you. You are a warrior.

My wife, Kate, deserves kudos for so many reasons, but she was the one who had the idea for this project. We were sitting in our living room one summer afternoon and talking about dream books. She suggested something on the history of the Whalers. You always get such a great response when you wear your Whalers cap or T-shirt. Why not a book on the Whalers? After pondering that for about a half second, I said, Thats a great idea. Shes really the one you want to thank here. And thanks go to my son, Noah, who kept asking me, So, when are you going to finish the Whalers book? Done and done.

Thank you to the former players, coaches, and fans, as well as owners and employees of the Whalers and those who covered the team through the years. (Facebook might be a soulless and evil corporation, but it proved fruitful for tracking down ex-Whalers.) In the end, I spoke with eighty-one people for this project, all of whom provided something worth including. Ex-players usually started first conversations cautiously: Youre doing a book on what? Where are you from? Why should I talk to you? By the end, many of them were sharing stories and furnishing entries from their own address books. Thanks to all the ex-players I met who opened their memory banks to provide me with all sorts of fun stories. There are too many to count here, but I especially want to acknowledge Jordy Douglas, Stew Gavin, Brian Propp, Mike Liut, Kelly Chase, Cap Raeder, and Andrew Cassels for their time and for serving as references when I needed an in with other ex-players. Getting the stamp of approval from former Whalers play-by-play guys Chuck Kaiton, Rick Peckham, and John Forslund was like getting into the inner circle. Thanks to all of you for serving as my unofficial passport. Connecting with Ben Baskin and Iggy Monda of the