An Endorsement On XL Center Management

With the announcement that the NHL will in fact have a season this year, followed by the curiously vague New York Post story asserting that Governor Malloy is looking into bring the NHL back to Connecticut, hockey is suddenly back in the news.

While we have no idea how dedicated the Governor is to bringing the NHL back to Connecticut, we do know that the Hartford Whalers Booster Club is very dedicated to the idea. Over 15 years after the NHL departed Hartford for tobacco and NASCAR country, the HWBC soldiers on with the dream that the NHL will one day return to Hartford.

Big Changes Ahead For Hartford Entertainment?

This week the Capital Region Development Authority accepted three requests for proposals to manage both the XL Center and Rentschler Field.  The CRDA announced earlier this fall that companies can submit to manage or purchase the XL Center and Rentschler Field.   The two venues are the largest sporting complexes in the Hartford metro area.  The three competitors for the venues have very big ideas for what direction Hartford's should go in.  Here is a  look at each and what they may have in store for Hartford’s entertainment and sports district.

The 38th.....and Final Season?

The new season in the AHL is upon us and in the AHL, they play, even if the NHL doesn't. For the New York Rangers top affiliate, it will be the team's 16th season in Hartford. Will it be their last?  We do not know yet.

.Much of the talk in the AHL this summer has been about where would the Rangers go if they did leave.  Rumors have been swirling  that there may be vacancies in Glen Falls, Albany and Binghamton for next season.  These upstate New York cities that have very strong Ranger fan bases and would naturally be attractive places for a Rangers affiliate.

Roger Waters Rocks XL Center

 Friday night the legendary Roger Waters came into Hartford to perform The Wall at the XL Center. At 68 years old, Waters performs as if he is twenty years younger and we doubt anyone in the filled to capacity XL Center would claim they didn't get their moneys worth.

The Wall, separating the audience from the band, is built during the first half of the show while Waters performs. An early highlight of the show came when local Hartford kids danced during "Another Brick In the Wall." After the song Waters explained that in each town a group of local kids were selected to perform and sent a tape of the dance. Waters went out of his way to praise the kids and let them know they should be proud. It was a really nice touch and no doubt a thrill for locals kids to perform on that stage.

Whale Sweep, Advance To Round Two

The post series handshake

The CT Whale completed a surprising three game series sweep of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers with a 4-3 overtime win on Sunday evening. The Whale become the first AHL team to advance to the second round and will now get some time to rest while they wait to find out who their next round opponent will be. Paul Doyle recaps the game here and video highlights after the jump.

Let The Games Begin! A Preview of Whale Playoff Hockey

Courtesy of theahl.com

(Ed. Note: The Whale started their playoff series with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers last night with a 3-0 win in Bridgeport. Game two is Saturday night at 7 in Bridgeport. The Whale return to Hartford for game three on Sunday and 5PM. If necessary, game four will be Wednesday in Hartford at 7PM and if a game five is needed to decide the series, it will be played in Bridgeport Saturday, April 28.)


The Whale finished the 2011-2012 regular season with two losses. They lost their home finale to Manchester in a shoot out 5-4 and they lost the season finale 2-1 to Syracuse. They finished second in the Northeast Division and sixth in the Eastern Conference of the American Hockey League. The season started well and the Whale had what appeared to be a Calder Cup contending team. That team was dissolved when Carl Hagelin, John Mitchell and Stu Bickel were called up to the Rangers.  Hartford would never get them back as all ended up staying in the NHL with New York. 

Weekly Whale: Playoff Edition

The regular season has come to a close and the CT Whale have advanced to the playoffs where they will face I-95 rivals the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in a series that will truly determine who is the victor of The Geico Cup. The Whale lead the Northeast Division for most of the first half of the season before Bridgeport got white hot and overtook them for the division title towards the end of the season.

The Weekly Whale

With only seven games left in the regular season, the Whale find themselves struggling to get on a hot streak and in danger of letting Bridgeport claim the Northeast Division. Friday evening saw the Whale fall behind 3-0 only 8 minutes into the game as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton came out of the gate like gangbusters. It was an even match the rest of the way and Wilkes-Barre rode the early three goal barrage to a 3-0 victory.

A Great Time For A Great Cause

It's well documented that Sad City are great fans of local hockey and always urge all looking for some great entertainment to take in a Whale game at the XL Center. This weekend the Whale are giving you an extra reason to come out and have a great time as part of the price of your ticket will go to benefit the East Hartford Police Officers' Memorial. While supporting local does mean going to farmers markets and shopping at family owner stores, it goes beyond that. The Whale are our local professional team in Hartford and it's the police that do the really tough work of keeping our neighborhoods safe.

Hot In Hartford: Schwartz vs. The XL Center

After a lengthy wait, Hot In Hartford returns for the second round of voting. Hey, if the damn Daytona 500 can get rained out for the first time in 54 years, a ridiculous poll can wait a few days. For the second round the candidates are seeded by the number of votes received in the first round. The top seed goes to lawyer/blogger Dan Schwartz who narrowly defeated John Dankosky in the most epic of all Hot In Hartford battles.

Weekly Whale

The Whale continue to put the nightmare January behind them having gone 7-2-1 over their last 10 games to keep a three point lead over the very hot Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The week started with a 6-3 win over Springfield Friday night in Hartford and then was followed up with a 3-1 win over Worchester before another great Saturday night crowd. Sunday the Whale traveled to Providence to face the Bruins and fell after a great effort in which they erased a two goal deficit in the third period.

This week the  Whale face the Portland Pirates in Hartford Friday night and then travel to Springfield Saturday night. Check out detailed game coverage from Paul Doyle at the Courant here. Video highlights after the jump.

Hot In Hartford: The Beat City Beauties vs. Howard Baldwin

Old is new and new is old and we're all here together.

This match pits a group of young women practicing an old art against a gentleman working to build ice hockey in Hartford as he once did as a younger man. The Beat City Beauties have taken Hartford by storm in short time with their throwback burlesque show. A dance troupe of young, athletic women have made a big splash on the Hartford scene in short time with their throwback shows that evoke another era. With an expert mix of sex, athleticism, humor, and nostalgia, the Beat City Beauties have rapidly become a must see act on the Hartford circuit.

XL Center Contest Winner

The following post is the winner of the XL Center essay contest written by Steve Jones, who also has a blog the Centrist Student. Steve has won himself a pair of center ice CT Whale tickets and we hope he enjoys the game! We would like to thank all entrants and congratulate Steve on his victory. His winning essay follows.

The Weekly Whale

For the first time since Sad City started The Weekly Whale column, the Whale have fallen from first place. After once having a commanding lead in the Northeast Division, the Whale are still winless in 2012 and have fallen to second place being surpassed by the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. While the Whale haven't managed a win in 11 games, the Sound Tigers have been white hot and have't lost in 11 games.

The Weekly Whale

2012 continues to vex the once high flying Whale as the team remains win less in the new year. The week started with a 4-2 road loss in Portland before the Whale returned home to the XL Center for the weekend. Friday saw the Whale host the St. John's IceCaps in a game in which the IceCaps goalie Edward Pasquale made one of the best saves anyone will ever see robbing Kris Newbury of a sure goal. The amazing save proved to be huge as the game went to overtime where St. John's scored only 16 seconds into extra time. 

The Civic Center Collapse

This week marked the 34th anniversary of the Hartford Civic Center roof collapse. As bad as the collapse was, it was very lucky that no one was killed in this mishap. Only hours before, the venue hosted a UConn-UMass basketball game. This was way before Marcus Camby, Cliff Robinson, and even Jim Calhoun.

We looked at these pictures of the roof collapse way, way back in the Sad City vault. Today, a generation has passed since the roof collapse and Hartford is facing a major decision on the future of a downtown entertainment. Many dream of an NHL return. The Civic Center collapse happened before Hartford even had an NHL team.

The Weekly Whale

It's been a tough road trip for the Whale as the team is on a frustrating six game losing streak. Not long ago it looked like the Whale might run away with the Northeast Division but their current skid has shrunk the division lead down to two points and only five points separates first and last place in the division.

Sad City Contest: Win Premium CT Whale Tickets!

There's been a lot of excitement about downtown development both at Sad City and across all of Hartford this week. Tuesday saw another presentation of iQuilt, the comprehensive plan to reinvigorate downtown by making it more pedestrian friendly increasing the connectivity of the downtown area. A very cool idea and the exact type of big thinking that we feel Hartford needs. Some people still find time to put the plan down, but there are always some people that are going to react negatively to anything that isn't exactly on their personal agenda, so really, what can you do?

Paper Mania!

Anything look familiar about this argument?

Last weekend the XL Center hosted Paper Mania as the event returned to Hartford. We were disappointed to have missed the event the last time around. Not being the best publicized event to hit Hartford, we nearly missed it again this time, but got wind of it towards the end of the week. We visited early Saturday morning not knowing what to expect and hoping to find something cool for an apartment. We had no idea what we were getting into. Only a couple minutes after walking into Paper Mania we realized that it was much bigger in size and scope than we had imagined. 

Hot In Hartford: XL Center vs. New Britain Busway

XL Center image courtesy of www.ctvisit.com Bus Image courtesy of www.environmentalheadlines.com

The first match up of "Hot In Hartford 2012" features the XL Center squaring off against the Hartford-New Britain Busway. The XL Center is the current home to the CT Whale, UConn basketball, and hosts many other events throughout the year. Formerly home to the Hartford Whalers and a slew of minor league sports teams, the XL Center is reaching a critical point in its existence as the current lease expires soon and renovations or a new arena must be considered in the upcoming years.