The Hartford Wolf Pack are a professional ice hockey team based in Hartford, Connecticut. A member of the American Hockey League (AHL), they play their home games at the XL Center. The team was established in 1926 as the Providence Reds. After a series of relocations, the team moved to Hartford in 1997 as the Hartford Wolf Pack. It is one of the oldest professional hockey franchises in existence, and the oldest continuously operating minor league hockey franchise in North America.
Following a "name-the-team" contest, the franchise became the Hartford Wolf Pack, a reference to a submarine class as well as the tactic known as "wolfpacking". With Connecticut being home to both the main builder of submarines (General Dynamics Electric Boat) and the US Navy's primary submarine base, honoring the state's naval tradition was the paramount goal. The name Seawolf, a reference to the Seawolf-class submarines was considered to have been the ideal name for the team. However, it had already been taken by the Mississippi Sea Wolves of the East Coast Hockey League. Following the submarine theme, the mascot was named "Sonar".
The Connecticut Whale logo, used from 2010 to 2013
The Wolf Pack's first coach was E.J. McGuire, and their first home game was played in front of a crowd of 12,934 fans on October 4, 1997. P.J. Stock scored the first home goal in Wolf Pack history. The first franchise goal was scored the night prior in Providence, R.I., by Pierre Sevigny. The team reached the playoffs during the first 12 years of their existence and won the Calder Cup in 2000, defeating the Rochester Americans in the Cup finals. Derek Armstrong won the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as AHL playoff MVP.
In mid-2010, the Rangers entered into a business relationship which gave former Whalers owner Howard Baldwin and his company, Hartford Hockey LLC (doing business as Whalers Sports & Entertainment), control of the team's business operations.[1] On September 20, 2010, Baldwin announced the Wolf Pack would change their name to the Connecticut Whale in honor of the Whalers.[2] The name change took place on November 27, 2010; the final game with the "Wolf Pack" name came on November 26, 2010. The opponent was Connecticut's other AHL team, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The Sound Tigers won 4–3, in a shootout. On November 27, 2010, the team played their first game under the new "Whale" name. The opponent was, again, the Sound Tigers. The Whale won 3–2, in a shootout. The attendance for the debut game was 13,089, which is the third-largest crowd in franchise history.[3] On January 1, 2011, the Whale debuted new home jerseys featuring light blue instead of green, however, the color was shelved for the 2011–12 season.
A picture of the XL Center after a Hartford Wolfpack game on December 10, 2022.
In June 2012, after just 21 months, the New York Rangers terminated their business relationship with Baldwin[1] after he and his company ran up a debt of almost $3million and had about 15 court cases against him.[4]
In April 2013, just two and a half seasons after rebranding as the Whale, the team decided it would revert to the nickname "Wolf Pack" for the following season.[5] Global Spectrum, the group now marketing the team and managers of the XL Center arena, announced in May 2013 that the franchise had officially returned to the Hartford Wolf Pack identity.[6]
Although the Wolf Pack does not officially acknowledge its past in Providence and Binghamton (or claim the Reds' four Calder Cups), it is the only AHL franchise to have never missed a season since the league's founding in 1936. In one form or another, the franchise has iced a team every year since 1926. The Wolf Pack and Abbotsford Canucks — the descendants of another charter AHL member, the Springfield Indians — are the oldest minor-league hockey franchises in North America. However, the Indians were inactive for three seasons in the 1930s, making the Wolf Pack the oldest continuously operating minor-league hockey franchise in North America. The only professional hockey franchises older than the Wolf Pack and the Canucks are the NHL's Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins.
Team information
Mascots
The Wolf Pack started in 1997 with one mascot, a wolf named Sonar. The name was chosen to keep with the submarine theme that the team had used in their naming and logo. Following the folding of their sister team, the Arena Football League's New England Sea Wolves, the Wolf Pack added the Sea Wolves' mascot, named Torpedo; this mascot has since been retired. In 2010, with the renaming of the team to the Connecticut Whale, Sonar was joined as a mascot by former Whalers mascot Pucky the Whale. Sonar took the 2012–13 season off while Pucky was the sole mascot. When the naming arrangement ended, Sonar came back while Pucky was retired. Dan Unger is the mascot of the fans.
The Wolf Pack have honored a number of former Hartford Whalers players by hanging their jerseys in the rafters, without formally retiring their numbers. In 2006, Ulf Samuelsson (#5), Ron Francis (#10) and Kevin Dineen (#11) were honored by the team in this way, joining Rick Ley (#2), Gordie Howe (#9) and John Mckenzie (#19) whose numbers had been previously retired by the Whalers.[14]
The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Canada.
The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its 25-year existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to 1997.
The Bridgeport Islanders are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League (AHL). They are the AHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's New York Islanders, who own the franchise. The team started in 2001–02 season and was purchased by the Islanders in 2004. The team is based in Bridgeport, Connecticut and plays their home games at the Total Mortgage Arena.
The Providence Reds were a hockey team that played in the Canadian-American Hockey League (CAHL) between 1926 and 1936 and the American Hockey League (AHL) from 1936 to 1977, the last season of which they played as the Rhode Island Reds. The team won the Calder Cup in 1938, 1940, 1949, and 1956. The Reds played at the Rhode Island Auditorium, located on North Main Street in Providence, Rhode Island, from 1926 through 1972, when the team affiliated with the New York Rangers and moved into the newly built Providence Civic Center. The team name came from the breed of chicken known as the Rhode Island Red.
The XL Center is a multi-purpose arena and convention center located in downtown Hartford, Connecticut. Owned by the City of Hartford, it is managed by the quasi-public Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) under a lease with the city and operated by Spectra. In December 2007, the center was renamed when the arena's naming rights were sold to XL Group insurance company in a six-year agreement. The arena is ranked the 28th largest among college basketball arenas. It opened in 1975 as the Hartford Civic Center and was originally located adjacent to Civic Center Mall, which was demolished in 2004. It consists of two facilities: the Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the Exhibition Center.
The B.C. Icemen were an ice hockey team in the United Hockey League (UHL). They played in Binghamton, New York, at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.
Kevin William Dineen is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. From 2021-2024, Dineen was the head coach of the Utica Comets in the American Hockey League (AHL). Dineen previously served as the head coach for the Florida Panthers and assistant coach of the Chicago Blackhawks. He was born in Quebec City, Quebec.
Antonio Jason LaBarbera is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played parts of 11 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL).
Kenneth Robert Gernander is an American professional ice hockey coach and former player who played 12 games in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers between 1996 and 2004. Born in Coleraine, Minnesota, he played for the University of Minnesota for four years and was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in the fifth round of the 1987 NHL Entry Draft.
Lawrence Winslow Pleau is an American former ice hockey player who also was the senior advisor to the general manager for the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League (NHL). He formerly served as senior vice president and General Manager of the St. Louis Blues. He played in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens between 1970 and 1972, and in the World Hockey Association with the New England Whalers between 1972 and 1979. Internationally Pleau played for the American national team at the 1968 Winter Olympics and the 1969 World Championship.
Howard Lapsley Baldwin is an American entrepreneur and film producer. Baldwin founded the New England Whalers ice hockey franchise in the World Hockey Association (WHA) and retained ownership when the team became the Hartford Whalers and joined the National Hockey League (NHL). He has also owned part of the Minnesota North Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins NHL franchises. He is the CEO of Baldwin Entertainment, which has produced films such as the Academy Award-nominated Ray.
Stephen Valiquette is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. Valiquette played 46 games in the National Hockey League, nearly all for the New York Rangers, before finishing his playing career in Europe.
Yevgeni Igorevich Grachyov, also known as Evgeny Grachev, is a Russian professional ice hockey centreman who is currently playing for Amur Khabarovsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He was drafted into the National Hockey League (NHL) by the New York Rangers in 2008, playing 34 games in the NHL for both the Rangers and St. Louis Blues between 2010 and 2012 prior to joining the KHL.
Chad Terry Johnson is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He most recently played for the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the fifth round, 125th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.
Teams in the American Hockey League first hosted games outdoors in 2010. Paralleling the National Hockey League's Winter Classic and Heritage Classic, these outdoor games frequently pit two regional rivals in a game in an outdoor venue. Inasmuch as the games have carried a unified brand, the most commonly used name for these events has been the Outdoor Classic.
Professional ice hockey in Connecticut has a rich tradition dating from the mid-1920s. Most of these teams were NHL minor league affiliates located in New Haven, though with the closure of the New Haven Coliseum, minor league affiliates now exist only exist in Hartford and Bridgeport. Hartford had its own Major league team, the Whalers team that existed in Hartford from 1974-97. Independent hockey leagues teams have also been gaining a foothold in Danbury starting in 2004.
Ryan Bourque is an American ice hockey coach in the Washington Capitals system, having previously been a forward. He is the son of Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque and the brother of former NHL forward Chris Bourque. He was a third round draft choice by the New York Rangers in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. He has won four medals in International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) playing for the United States – a gold and a bronze medal in World Under 18 Ice Hockey Championship and a gold and a bronze medal in the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. He is a fast, energetic, tenacious, versatile forward who is considered strong defensively – a smaller version of Ryan Kesler.
Jonathan Tanner Miller is an American professional ice hockey forward for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted by the Rangers in the first round, 15th overall, of the 2011 NHL entry draft. He has also played for the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Vancouver Canucks.
Cole Schneider is an American professional ice hockey player who is currently under contract with Storhamar Ishockey of the EliteHockey Ligaen (EHL). After leaving the University of Connecticut in 2012, he began his professional career with the Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League (AHL).
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