A heartbeat in Hartford

Al Victor is not a bitter man. Some of his hockey-loving friends around Hartford feel that way, but not Victor, in part because he refuses to divest himself of the many great memories he warehoused over the years as a Whaler fan.

``Hmm, my favorite Whaler memory, let me think about that for a second," said Victor, whose former favorite club is doing business these days as the Stanley Cup finalist Carolina Hurricanes. ``I'd say it was the night Mike Milbury found out Kevin Dineen was lefthanded. And we all know how he found out."

If memory fails to serve anyone who once cherished those Whaler-Bruin matchups, the 60-year-old Victor could take you to Hartford Civic Center and point out the very spot where Milbury, then a fiery Boston defenseman, was schooled by Dineen.

``They were in a furious tussle at one end, down where the Zamboni came out," recalled Victor, a former Whaler season ticket-holder. ``And Milbury, he had Kevin's right hand tied up real good. That's when Kevin decked him with the left. And it was great."

Victor, who lives in New Britain, was home with his wife, Diane, Monday night, watching Game 4 of the Cup finals between the ex-Whalers and the Oilers -- a pair of World Hockey Association charter members, Victor pointed out. The Whalers packed up and left Hartford in the spring of 1997, and Victor remains one of the lingering and lonely loyalists, and is now in his second tour as president of the Hartford Whalers Booster Club.

``Ah, the thought of seeing [Peter] Karmanos's name on the Cup, that does not do good things for me," mused Victor, referencing the Whalers owner.

The booster club's numbers, understandably, are modest. Because of the Canes' success and recent rumblings of an attempt to bring the NHL back to Hartford, membership is now inching toward 70. A couple of years ago, said Victor, the rank-and-file had dwindled to a little more than a dozen. Members stay connected through the official website: www.whalerwatch.com.

The fact that Karmanos changed his city on the fly nearly a decade ago, despite strong attendance after 17 NHL seasons, has made it difficult for even some of the most fervent fans to keep up the cause. The only Carolina player with direct roots to Hartford is Glen Wesley, the ex-Bruin defenseman, and even the Booster Club president has difficulty counting the 37-year-old former Bostonian as a real Whaler.

``Don't get me wrong, I like Glen Wesley," said Victor. ``But I never felt his heart was with the Whalers. They gave up way too much to get him from Boston. I mean, three first-round draft picks? Way overpriced for a player with his skill level.

``Now, Bobby Orr for three first-rounders? Without a doubt. But not Glen Wesley. Technically, yes, he's the last one, but it's not like Dean Evason, Kevin Dineen, Ron Francis, or Ulf Samuelsson -- now those were great heart-and-soul Whalers."

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said last week, hours before the start of the Cup finals, that the league has no plans to expand. If Victor and friends see the NHL shield fly again in their city, it will have to come via a franchise move -- the same mechanism that moved the Whale to North Carolina, and in fact, the same mechanism that brought the Whalers, originally based in Boston as a WHA franchise, to Hartford.

Meanwhile, the Canes carry on, no doubt with many of their newborn fans unaware that their team dressed in shocking red originally sported green and white in the Nutmeg State.

The Canes have been to the Cup finals twice in the last four seasons, riches the Whale never knew.

All too acquainted with the Whalers' Cupless past, Victor was quick to dismiss any suggestions, when the Canes held a 2-0 series lead in the final, that the Oilers would be swept.

``I kept saying, `No, no, it ain't over,' " said Victor. ``I mean, are you kidding? I thought going in that it would go six or seven games, because that Edmonton team is skilled and works like crazy. Look at Game 3. It looked like Carolina was skating in mud."

There are still times when Victor pulls out his Gordie Howe Whaler sweater and allows the old Hartford memories to wash over him. He'll probably have Mr. Hockey's sweater on again in August for a convention in Buffalo that will bring together the various booster clubs from around the NHL. Some cities don't have official booster clubs, said Victor, noting both Boston and Montreal. But Hartford will be there, holding on to memories, and the lingering hope that the NHL returns some day.

``I still follow the Canes, obviously," said Victor, who made the trip to Buffalo to see the Canes take on the Sabres in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals. ``When they left, I couldn't get behind another team. There's definitely nothing in New England that entices me. But I stay with it, because I'm a huge fan of the game, and the changes they made this year. It's fantastic. They got rid of the hooking and the clutching and the interference -- and they've done a great job calling it in the playoffs the way they called it during the season. I applaud 'em."

No doubt Victor would applaud all the more if the distant sons of Blaine Stoughton and Scot Kleinendorst and Risto Siltanen can finish off the job against the Oilers.

``Oh, yeah, I'd be happy," said Victor. ``But to be honest, a lot of my friends haven't been excited. They're bitter, I guess. And in some ways, I am, too. It's a two-way sword kind of thing, I guess. I've heard rumors that maybe they'd bring the Cup to Hartford for a day if they won, and I've got friends who say, `No way would I go see it,' while others say, `Sure, if it came to the Civic Center.'

``But that's life, right? Whatever it is, people feel different ways."

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