Blue Cord

My son got his Christmas present today. A few weeks ago I asked him if he would like to go to a hockey game for Christmas, and he enthusiastically agreed. He had never been to an NHL game before. So, today we went down to watch the Boston Bruins at the new Boston Garden (unfortunately, the official name is the TD Banknorth Garden). This was my first trip to the Garden as well. We had a great time, although the Bruins lost 4–1. Our seats were only three rows from the top of the arena, but we could still see fairly well. We bought a puck for $5, which I can add to my collection. It sits proudly on my desk next to my Washington Capitals puck. I also have a Hartford Whalers puck, although its precise whereabouts are currently unknown.

I first got introduced to hockey in seminary. A number of us from the seminary would walk down the street to the Yale hockey arena, affectionately known as “The Whale” (if you have ever seen pictures, you don’t need to ask why). My first professional hockey game was the Hartford Whalers, whose logo at the right is one of the most clever ever devised (great use of negative space). I followed them throughout my time in Connecticut. Hartford was never a large enough sports market to support an NHL team, so the Whalers left in the late 1990s to become the Carolina Hurricanes.

I was reminded of the Whalers in the middle of the Bruins game today. During a break in the second period, some music was playing over the loud speakers. I wasn’t paying much attention, but suddenly something clicked in my brain. I realized the song they were playing was “Brass Bonanza”, a.k.a. “The Hartford Whalers Victory March”. It was different instrumentation than the 1970s version played at Whalers games so I didn’t recognize it at first, but it brought back a lot of memories. The Whalers played their first 2.5 seasons at the Boston Garden as the New England Whalers, but “Brass Bonanza” was not adopted as their theme song until after they moved to Hartford.