But that doesn't mean the team isn't going to do its best to offer a great alternative. This club has done a superb job of maintaining a level of excitement that says hockey is still alive in Hartford, Whalers or not. Wolf Pack players who show promise are regularly called up by the Rangers, and NHL players who need to brush up on their skills are in turn sent down to Hartford. In recent games, former Hartford Whalers goalie Jason Muzzatti was sent down by the Rangers to the Civic Center, where he's been both cheered and heckled. Hartford hockey fans didn't give Muzzatti much slack, taunting him from behind the goal and booing him for basically kicking a puck into the net.
Any bitterness is understandable.
Many hockey lovers are still feeling the pain associated with the belief that politicians and businesspeople representing Hartford and the state simply bent over and let Whalers owner Peter Karmanos stick it to the Capital City when he took the team south to North Carolina. The result is a burning frustration among fans with the powers that be. The angst is so potent that those who bring up the Whalers in conversation at a Wolf Pack game should be prepared to spend the rest of the period getting an earful. Even ESPN's Chris Berman asserted in a recent radio interview that public officials ranging from NHL Commissioner Gary Betteman to Gov. John Rowland have blood on their hands. And many hockey fans agree.