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Two different NHL games on April 13, 1997 marked quasi-endings – of a playing career and place. Mario Lemieux finished his final regular-season game before retiring, but his retirement turned out to be temporary. In Hartford, the Whalers played their final game before relocating to North Carolina as the Hurricanes.

Lemieux

On April 5th, Lemiuex announced his plan to retire at the end of playoffs. In his letter to Pittsburgh Penguins fans he wrote, “After 12 seasons of indescribable emotion, I’ll be hanging up my skates this spring.” Lemieux scored his 50th goal of the season for the sixth time on April 11 (on a penalty shot against Florida’s John Vanbiesbrouck). In his final week with the Penguins, they twice faced the Boston Bruins, playing their final game at the FleetCenter there. 

Before the start, the Bruins presented Lemieux with a seat from Boston Garden, where he scored his first ever NHL goal on October 11, 1984. With about three minutes remaining in the game, they played him a highlights video, and for a full five minutes, the crowd stood, cheered, and threw hats onto the ice. “That was pretty neat,” said Lemieux. “I didn’t know exactly what to do. I waved a couple of times, and the fans just kept going.” With 42 seconds left, fans sent him off chanting, “Mario, Mario.”

The captain provided two assists in his farewell. At 7:54 from the start, “while turning in the right circle, he put a blind, backhand pass on the stick of Ed Olcyk, who was unchecked at the left side of the crease and shoveled the puck past Bruins goalie Jim Carey.” Unfortunately, the Penguins allowed four goals that same period. In the second, at 5:40, Lemiuex assisted on Ron Francis’s power-play goal.

Lemieux skated out for his final shift with 31 seconds left to play, and he made his final shot with just 7 seconds to spare. He shrugged, “I felt I had a chance at the end but didn’t put anything on the puck. I was kind of pressured there.”

Despite having nearly twice the shots on goal, the Penguins lost 7-3. Coach Craig Patrick still said, “I think we have a good team and I think we’re playing pretty strong hockey right now.” However, this gave Pittsburgh a winless streak of 0-12-1 on the road, and they finished with their lowest point total (84) since 1989-90. It put them against the Philadelphia Flyers for the first round of playoffs, and as expected, they lost (4-1).

With this game, Lemieux increased his scoring streak to nine games. The two assists brought Lemieux up to 122 points for the 1996-97 season, giving him his sixth NHL scoring title. He averaged 2.005 points per game, making him the first to retire with over 2. 

He had played 745 NHL games (613G, 881A, 1494P), and among other honors, he had three regular-season MVP award, two playoff MVP awards, and two Stanley Cup championships. “I feel pretty comfortable … with what I’ve accomplished throughout my career,” acknowledged Lemieux. “I just want to be remembered as somebody who was able to take a team that was the worst in the league and was able to bring a championship to Pittsburgh. I’m very proud that I accomplished that. And, hopefully, I’ll be remembered as a winner.”

The tributes to Lemieux poured in. Former GM Ed Johnston (who drafted Lemieux) commented, “You’re looking at a guy who can change your whole franchise and fill the building.” Former coach Scotty Bowman affirmed, “He’s the best player I’ve seen since I got into the league in ’67. I’ve always said he’s the most complete player I’ve seen because he can score, he can make plays, he’s got the reach and, when you need defense, he can provide it.” Owner Howard L. Baldwin gushed, “When I think of Mario, of course I think of his great gifts – his uncanny ability to see what none of us can see even though we have a far better view. But what I think of most of all is his extraordinary courage.”

That courage had to do with facing cancer and other health issues that partly led to the retirement. Baldwin noted, “Undoubtedly, the most heroic sporting achievement I have ever witnessed or have actually been a part of is Mario’s attitude and battle over Hodgkin’s disease.” Lemieux himself realized, “The moment I found out I had cancer really changed my life and changed my outlook on life. Before, hockey was No. 1 in my life, including over my family. [After,] I knew my health was No. 1 and my family was right up there. Hockey really took a backseat.” He wrote to the fans, “I can never forget your support during the tough times – the two back operations, the premature birth of my son, Austin, and, of course, my battle with Hodgkin’s disease. … The memories are golden, and they will live forever.”

Lemieux also pointed to the inability to play his game because of officials not calling interference-type penalties. “That was one of the reasons I left the game for the year. Because of the way the game was being played. That’s the biggest factor [for retiring now], I think.” Although he would not miss the referees or the “way the game’s being played,” he said he was “going to miss the guys the most.” Lemieux admitted, “I’ve always been a hockey player. Once it disappears, I’m sure it’s going to be very difficult emotionally. That’s something I’m going to have to cope with.”

At the time, Lemieux guaranteed he would not be coming back to hockey. “It’s time to do something else in my life.” Taking him at his word, the Hockey Hall of Fame rushed to induct him right then in 1997. But well, things change, and on December 27, 2000, Lemieux became the third to return to the NHL as an HHOF member. Unfortunately, his poor health continued, and he fully retired from playing on January 24, 2006.

Hartford

Since joining the NHL in 1979 through the merger with the WHA, the Whalers struggled. They had the smallest U.S. market (being too close to other big teams) and the smallest arena. By 1997, they had only won one NHL playoff series. When Peter Karmanos bought the team in 1994, he promised to keep them in Hartford until at least 1998. However, he wanted ticket sales to increase and to build a bigger arena. Although sales perked for the 1996-97 season, the Connecticut governor refused to use taxpayer money for the rink and Karmanos’s construction and leasing plans fell through. In March, he announced the impending move.

To make matters worse, the night before the April 13th game, Ottawa clinched the final playoff spot leaving the Whalers out. “I think we dealt with the adversity and then it came down to these last three games,” commented GM Jim Rutherford. “The fact that we couldn’t take that next step to be in the playoffs and win the games that we had to, I would summarize that as being a disappointment.” Their next opponent, the Tampa Bay Lightning, had also been eliminated, making the final game nothing but a funeral. 

Defenseman Curtis Leschyshyn, who was also at Quebec for their final game in 1995, said, “It was pretty emotional. It was almost like a funeral, and for many it probably was.” Meanwhile, his teammate, top scorer Geoff Sanderson, remarked, “You know, it has been three weeks since we found out the team was moving, three weeks. But I don’t think anyone thought about the final day or the final game, what it would be like. It just hit everyone in the building. The fans were amazing.” Playing in his 499th game, having spent all nine of his season in Hartford, defenseman Adam Burt agreed, “But [the fans] came out in full force and, regardless of the score and not making the playoffs again they were still behind us. That made us all leave with a good taste in our mouths.”

A capacity crowd of 15,635 came out to the Civic Center to say goodbye to their team. At 1:34 pm when Tony Harrington sang the anthem, he thanked fans and told them, “Just remember, it’s not over until the fat lady sings, and I’m not the fat lady.” The puck dropped at 1:37 pm to begin the 710th and final NHL game played at Hartford..

The Whalers took an early lead 2:30 into the game with Glen Wesley’s goal. The 1-0 lead held for a while. At 3:17 pm, the Zamboni made its final pass during a period break. Driver Don MacMillan felt lost. “Until I see them drive up the street I won’t say they’re gone. I’m one of the few who still thinks … maybe there’s a chance somewhere.”

Just 24 seconds after the final period started, Captain Kevin Dineen scored what ended up being the game-winner. He received a three-minute standing ovation. Less than three minutes later, Dino Ciccarelli sent in the final NHL goal on Hartford ice. Ciccarelli noted, “It’s pretty classy of the fans in here the way they reacted. For a visiting team coming into a game which didn’t mean anything, it was still kind of enjoyable to play this game because of the atmosphere.” At 3:48 pm, Courant reporter Michael Arace named the fans as the No. 1 star and goalie Sean Burke as No. 2. Officially, Dineen was made No. 1. He almost scored again in the final moments.

The announcement came at 3:52 pm, “One minute to play, in Hartford.” Then the final buzzer sounded about 4 pm, and the TV announcer noted, “The Whalers will go out winners.” The fans began an extended ovation to the team’s theme son, “Brass Bonanza.” The team huddled up then raised their stick and skated around the rink. They threw everything they could as memorabilia for the fans, and Dineen thanked them profusely. Nearly half an hour after the end, cheers echoed, “Let’s go Whalers!” After nearly an hour, the diehards were finally ushered out the door.  

As goalie, Burke got 100th and final victory as a Whaler. “I’ll always remember the closeness we had with the fans here,” he said. “I’ll never forget that.” And just like that, it was over. “It’s one of those things that won’t hit home totally until I’m lining up to drop the puck in a different building,” mused veteran Burt. “What hits the hardest for me is leaving behind all the relationships and the friends you’ve made. The community has been terrific to my family and myself. The game is much deeper than just wins and losses.” According to Coach Paul Maurice, “The game was almost secondary to the moment that was the end of the Hartford Whalers. Actually, it wasn’t almost secondary – it was completely secondary.”

As the Zamboni made its final pass at nearly 7 pm, “The Whalers’ blue and green logo smears badly, almost beyond recognition.” They had finished their time in the NHL with a record of 552-740-177.

Adding fuel to the fire, Karmanos did not even attend the final game. He didn’t have a new place for the franchise yet, so he was traveling to scope out potential locations. Rutherford told the press, “I really don’t know where he is. I haven’t talked to him in a couple of days. He’s been on a tour [of prospective expansion NHL cities] and I don’t know where he was planning to be [Sunday].” It wasn’t until May 6th that Karmanos announced that the franchise would move to Raleigh, North Carolina, and he chose the name Carolina Hurricanes. 

The move was so quick, Raleigh did not have a proper arena, so the Hurricanes had to spend their first two seasons a 90-minute drive away at the Greensboro Coliseum. In spite of the inauspicious beginnings, the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup in 2006, less than a decade after the move.

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