Ten years ago today was a significant day in the history of the Carolina Hurricanes. The team played as the Hartford Whalers for the last time ever on April 13th, 1997. Obviously it was a very sad day for Whaler's fans, as it would be for the fanbase of any moving team. Shortly after that fateful day, the franchise packed up and moved to North Carolina and played in Greensboro for the first 2 years, then moved permanently to their new digs in Raleigh. The rest as they say, is history. While I won't claim to have been a die-hard fan of the Whalers back in that day, I did cheer for them regularly just like I would cheer for any underdog. They seemed to be the epitome of a team you could cheer for as a lover of underdogs just because it seemed that they did not get much, if any respect, just like it used to be for the Hurricanes. For more information about this, the Hartford Courant is running a nice story and they show many more pictures.
The Whalers say goodbye to the crowd after their last game, a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Ten Years After