What Winnipeg Means to Hartford

May 18th, 2010 by Colin McDonough Leave a reply »
A jet in Arizona may be flying home to Canada after fourteen years. I don't expect a hurricane to spin north to Connecticut from Carolina. Nor should it.

With the recent news that the Phoenix Coyotes may move back to their original home in Winnipeg, some have speculated what it means for hockey fans in Hartford. Will the Whalers return to the Insurance Capital? Or the real question should they?

Quick answer...they shouldn't.

The Hartford Whalers moved from Connecticut to North Carolina in the same southern swing that Gary Bettman moved the Jets to Phoenix. Bettman may have moved the Jets from small market Winnipeg, but he took the team away from die-hard Canadian hockey fans. New England may be one of the best hockey regions in the United States, but it's no Canada.

Hartford may be in between New York and Boston, but has a population of just over 100,000. Winnipeg has over 600,000 hockey fans. Hartford is a prime example of an industrial city losing population and a reason to go downtown.

The XL Center, formerly known as the Hartford Civic Center used to be filled with store fronts along with the arena that housed the Wh ...

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