Connecticut Whale The Hartford Wolf Pack is 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 extant , and the oldest continuously operating minor - league franchise in North America . The franchise was renamed the Connecticut Whale in October 2010 , in honor of the former Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) but reverted to their current name after the 2012 – 13 AHL season . The Wolf Pack is the top affiliate of the NHL ' s New York Rangers and is one of the three professional hockey teams in Connecticut . History . The franchise that became the Wolf Pack was founded in 1926 in Providence , Rhode Island as the Providence Reds , one of the five charter members of the Canadian - American Hockey League . In 1936 , the Northeast - based CAHL merged with the Midwest - based International Hockey League to form the International - American Hockey League , which dropped the " International " from its name in 1942 . The Reds — known as the Rhode Island Reds in their later years — folded after the 1975 - 76 season . Shortly afterward , the owners of the Broome Dusters of the North American Hockey League bought the Reds franchise and moved it to Binghamton , New York as the Binghamton Dusters . After securing an affiliation with the Hartford Whalers in 1980 , the team changed its name to the Binghamton Whalers . An affiliation change to the Rangers in 1990 — one that continues to this day — brought another new name , the Binghamton Rangers . After the 1996 - 97 NHL season , the Whalers moved to Raleigh , North Carolina as the Carolina Hurricanes . Soon after the Whalers ' departure , the Binghamton Rangers relocated to Hartford to begin play at the vacated Hartford Civic Center ( today known as the XL Center ) . 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 submarine was considered to have been the ideal name for the team , however it had already been taken by the Mississippi Sea Wolves of the ECHL . Following the submarine theme , the mascots were named " Sonar " and " Torpedo " . The Wolf Pack ' s first coach was E . J . McGuire and in the first game , the team won 2 - 0 against the neighboring Springfield Falcons . PJ Stock recorded the first goal in Wolf Pack history . The team reached the playoffs during the first twelve years of their existence , and won the Calder Cup in 2000 , defeating the Rochester Americans in the Cup finals . It has only missed the playoffs three times since moving to Hartford , in 2009 - 10 , 2012 - 13 and 2013 - 14 . In Summer 2010 the Rangers entered into a business relationship which gave former Whalers owner Howard Baldwin control of the team ' s business operations . On September 20 , 2010 Baldwin announced the Wolf Pack would change their name to the Connecticut Whale in honor of the Whalers . 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 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 . On January 1 , 2011 the Connecticut Whale debuted new home jerseys featuring light blue instead of green , however the color was shelved for the 2011 - 12 season . The Whale were hosts and participants in the 2011 AHL Outdoor Classic , the Whale Bowl , held at Rentschler Field in East Hartford , Connecticut . Connecticut fell to the Providence Bruins , 5 - 4 , in a shootout . In June 2012 , after just 21 months , the New York Rangers terminated their business relationship with Howard Baldwin and Whalers Sports & Entertainment The team is now operated with the assistance of AEG . In April 2013 , just 3 years after rebranding as the Whale , the team decided it would revert to the nickname " Wolf Pack " for the following season . 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 ( In 2015 , Baldwin licensed the " Connecticut Whale " name to a women ' s hockey team set to begin play in fall 2015 . ) Although the Wolf Pack does not officially acknowledge its past in Providence and Binghamton ( or the Reds ' four Calder Cups ) , it is the only AHL team 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 Utica Comets - - 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 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 . Shortly after , the team added a second wolf 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 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 . Players . Notable alumni . The following players have played both 50 games in Hartford and 50 games in the National Hockey League :