WHA Hockey.TV: A Tribute to the Legends of the World Hockey Association by Mark Willand

January 11, 2010: The 35th Anniversary of the Whalers First Game in Hartford

The Hartford Courant, January 11, 1975, by Tom Hine

The many years of waiting have long since disappeared. It's now only a matter of hours. The City of Hartford is on the major league sports map, and the New England Whalers have a home of their own. It culminates at 7:30 tonight when the first WHA hockey puck is dropped at center ice in the two-day-old Hartford Civic Center. And Hartford...and the Whalers...couldn't be happier.

It's been a long road. That's exactly where the Whalers have spent most of the last three month. On the road. Even their 13 games in West Springfield were away from home, only a temporary residence for a major league hockey team that awaited ever so patiently for the final touches on a new Civic Center they'll move into tonight.

The San Diego Mariners are listed as the Whalers' first Hartford foes, but most of the fans don't know it. The 10,507 who bought tickets to assure a sellout tonight over ten days ago could care less who the Whalers are playing. They just want to be there when it happens. Fancy words like icing, blue lines, red lines, creases, offsides...that will all come later. Teams like the Jets, Aeros, Nordiques, Fighting Saints, Roadrunners..that will all come later, too. And names like Abrahamsson, Swain, Fotiu, Ley, Webster, Pleau...they, too, may be unfamiliar to most patrons, but they'll be household words in only a short time. Hartford wanted major league hockey, and it will have it tonight.

Howard Baldwin Whalers Press Conferences 1979-1989

Howard Baldwin Press Conferences 1979-1989 .. Produced by Dave Smith in 1990

Birthday Wishes: Fred O'Donnell, New England Whalers

 BY NEIL ACHARYA, The Hockey News

The Boston Bruins of the early 1970s are solidified in hockey lore.

Orr, Esposito, Buyck and Cheevers are some of the names that immediately come to mind.

Among those big names was a gritty young winger from Gananoque, Ont., named Fred O’Donnell.

“I was certainly fortunate to be playing for the Bruins during that time,” O’Donnell said. “A lot of the popularity with the club has stayed with that era.”

One special night in Gananoque, O’Donnell was in attendance when NHL scouts discovered a kid named Bobby Orr during a bantam playoff game.

“He must have been pretty special for me to remember that particular game,” O’Donnell noted.

Little did he know at the time, the two would one day be teammates with the Big, Bad Bruins.

O’Donnell, who came up in the era when players were signed by an organization – often in their early teens – instead of going through the draft, was no stranger to the Boston Garden when he finally broke in with the Bruins in 1972-73.

“I played my first game in the Garden when I was 17,” he said. “The Bruins sponsored both the Niagara Falls Flyers and the Oshawa Generals and flew them down to showcase prospects.

“I always enjoyed playing at the Gardens – we had good teams and I liked the smaller ice surface and the physical play,” added O’Donnell, who also played at the Gardens as a member of the American League’s Boston Braves.

O’Donnell scored his first goal on Long Island against Billy Smith. Just as any player would, he got the puck.

“A couple of months later I received another puck on a plaque stating it was my first goal,” he said. “I now have two pucks stating they were my first.”

That season, the Bruins were vying for a third Stanley Cup in four seasons, but major injuries to Orr and Phil Esposito resulted in an early exit from the playoffs at the hands of the New York Rangers. That didn’t stop O’Donnell and a few of his teammates from having Esposito join them at a party to celebrate the season.

Exclusive Interview with Jim Dorey

Click Here Good Interview with WHA Rearguard Jim Dorey

BIll Butters Hockey Ministry

Separated by Plexiglas and a generational gap, he watches a familiar scene. Players swoop and spin, occasionally crashing into one another with a shout, or blasting a slap shot that explodes in the empty arena at the National Hockey Center.

"It's a violent game," Bill Butters said.

He should know. Butters, 58, played at the University of Minnesota in the early 1970s, then went on to a pro career that included 100 fights and more than 240 stitches in his face.

Thirty years after he last appeared as a defenseman with the Minnesota North Stars, he's still around the rinks — only now it's with a Bible under his arm. Its black cover carries the logo of a skate with a cross on the heel.

Read Full Story Here:

Phil Langan: 1939-2009

LANGAN, Phil Phil Langan of Enfield, 70, passed away suddenly at his home on Monday (November 23, 2009). Langan was born in Boston in 1939. He attended South Boston High School and received a BA Degree in English from Boston College in 1960. Following graduation, he was the assistant sports information director at Harvard. During that time, he served six months of active duty in the United States Army. He received an Honorable Discharge following six and a half years of active reserve duty. He joined a Boston publishing firm 1963 and four years later was named sports information director at Ithaca College where he stayed for six years. He served in that same capacity at Princeton for four years. Cornell for three years and Brown University for four years before accepting a position as Vice President of Public Relations and Community Relations for the Hartford Whalers in 1983. He held the same position with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 1991-96.

Shorthanded Whalers Upset Soviets -- December 28, 1976

December 28, 1976

Hartford Connecticut ... Tom Hine, Hartford Courant

Harry Neale sipped a little tradition out of one of the Soviet
Union’s favorite past times Monday night, and the New England
Whalers stole the thunder out of the Russian’s playbook after
an unbelievable, surprisingly convincing, 5-2 exhibition win
at the Civic Center.

“I may have some vodka tonight, without any mixer,” Neale quipped
outside the jubilant Whalers locker room after a win of such
magnitude most of the sellout crowd will never know.

This was the strongest Soviet Union hockey team ever put on ice
and one which has a score to settle after last year’s Canada
Cup defeat let alone that national pride it hopes to regain in
the next World championship.

It was a bitter blow for the Russians to watch a bunch of Whalers,
hanging by a toenail in fourth place in the east division standings,
beat them convincingly.

Howard Baldwin, Stan Fischler Interview, Dec. 27, 1976

Howard Baldwin and Stan Fischler discuss the state of hockey in this 1976 Interview at the Hartford Civic Center as the Whalers battle the Soviets.

Mike Antonovich to be Inducted Into University of Minnesota "M Club" Hall of Fame

Ex-New England Whaler and Minnesota Fighting Saints Mike Antonovich is one of eight former University of Minnesota standouts will be inducted into the school's "M" Club Hall of Fame on Thursday in the TCF Bank Stadium DQ Club Room.

His Golden Gopher playing days cut short due to an injury, Antonovich made up for lost time with a lengthy and successful professional hockey career. Antonovich played at the University of Minnesota from 1969-72 and led the team in scoring as a freshman, but suffered a knee injury in a game against the U.S. Olympic team during the 1971-72 season. Antonovich left the Gophers following that season and embarked on a professional career that spanned 11 seasons and five different teams.

Antonovich totaled 45 goals and 40 assists for 85 points in 77 career games as a centerman for the Golden Gophers. He notched team highs in every category as a freshman with 23 goals, 20 assists, 43 points and 60 penalty minutes. Antonovich followed with 14 goals and 18 assists for 32 points as a sophomore and was off to a strong start during his junior season with eight goals and two assists before his injury in the ninth game and first home contest of the year.

WHA Profile: Tim Sheehy

Talented and classy Tim Sheehy is now a successful player agent. His scoring prowess was a key factor in the Whalers success from 1972-74. Sheehy, who was born in September 3rd, 1948 in Fort Frances, Ontario, was an American citizen by the time his career got underway. Sheehy was a major star as a high school player leading his team to 59-straight victories and three consecutive Minnesota State Championships. He then moved on to a University career.

After three decorated years with Boston College, Sheehy joined the United States National Team where he participated in two World Championships and the 1972 Winter Olympics. He served as the captain of the U.S. club was a major part of the team that surprised many by winning a silver medal.

His professional career began in 1972 when he signed on with the World Hockey Association's New England Whalers where he soon earned a reputation as a steady scoring winger. During his third season with the Whalers Sheehy was traded to the Edmonton Oilers where he spent parts of three seasons. After a very solid 1976-77 campaign where Sheehy scored 41 goals with Birmingham he caught the attention of the NHL and was acquired via trade by the Detroit Red Wings.

According to Sheehy: "Being a parent and coach of young hockey players at this stage of my life, I certainly understand the demeanor of a younger Jack Kelley and his climb to the top of his profession. Helping young players attain their goals by winning championships and helping in their development along the way, is a passion that I share today as a hockey agent.

Never will I forget the trade engineered by Jack Kelley that sent me to the Edmonton Oilers on Valentine’s Day 1975, while being the team’s second leading scorer. Jack would later say that I was supposed to “warm things up for the Great Wayne Gretzky.” After spending two years in Edmonton, I was traded to the Birmingham Bulls of the WHA and got to play with the likes of Frank Mahovlich and Paul Henderson. With Birmingham experiencing financial problems, Vaclav Nedomansky and I were traded to the Detroit Red Wings in the first inter-league trade. Later, on Valentine’s Day 1978, Jack Kelley would tell me “it was time to come home” and play on a line with “Mr. Hockey,” Gordie Howe and his son Mark Howe, along with his defenseman brother Marty Howe. All three Howes’ had been so well represented by the family matriarch agent in contract negotiations, that being the wonderful and classy Colleen Howe. " Tim Sheehy