The Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance has honored former Hartford Whalers’ legend Ronnie Francis, who we all know was the greatest two-way center ever to play the game.
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“Brass Bonanza”–now that’s a wonderful (obscure, granted) trivia question. Miss hearing that tune.
I just miss the Whalers.
What a guy!! I met him as a little kid at then Owner Howard Baldwin’s house in Hartford. Years later in the first year in Carolina I saw him and Kevin Dineen near the coliseum and said I had met him before; and the dude named the place…I couldn’t believe it. Anyway, that was a nice throwback, thanks.
Thanks, Robert. Like the variety on the site-hockey, pretty girls, sex in Korea, military news, sightseeing, etc, etc. Keep up the good work!
For anyone wanting to bath in the nostalgic check out the following clip…
http://www.brassbonanza.com/So.....ers-bb.mp3
a bit more entertaining is this…from ‘75
http://www.brassbonanza.com/Sound/fight.mp3
Ah, I finally found this thread, Mr. Koehler. And it inspires me to amble down the memory lane!
I am from West Hartford; and because I knew a person who had season tickets, I got to watch a lot of the Whalers games in person–as well as virtually every televised Whalers game, in the mid-80s to early 90s.
And it’s interesting that we have such diametrically different views of Francis. I thought he was one of those players who was very good but not great–a player who can vault you into respectable ranks but never transform you into a champion. He was indeed a good two-way center, but that only means he was a jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none. He wasn’t quite the explosive scorer (I think he went over 100 points in an offensive era only once as a Whaler); and, while good defensively, he wasn’t exactly a Guy Carbonneau or Bob Gainey.
In fact, I always hoped as a Whaler fan that Emile Francis would trade Ronnie while his value was rather high and was ecstatic when Cullen came in an exchange (though I think Johnson was the GM by then)–though that trade admittedly turned out to be a diaster (not just because of Cullen’s decline but because Zarlapski, who came along with Cullen, was also such an undisciplined player who amounted to nothing).
While Francis flourished in his new setting in Pittsburgh, I still think my initial assessment was right: Francis had his best seasons as a Penguin, either centering the 2nd line or centering Lemieux’s first line. Of course, this is not to say that Francis couldn’t have won the Cup as a Whaler. I think it was in 86 when they stretched Montreal (the eventual Cup winner) to a 7-game overtime that they lost to a Claude Lemieux goal–beginning the legend of both the Agitator par excellence and some guy named Patrick Roy. The Whalers arguably out-played the Habs that series, and I think would’ve won the entire thing if they had beaten the Habs. I think they were undefeated v. their next would-be opponent, the Rangers, during the season, and MacInnis’ Calgary team, while explosive, had too many defensive holes. Still, that team was rather well-balanced and not a one-man show. In fact, some thought Kevin Dineen was the team’s best player.
Anyways, I can’t believe it’s been two decades since that peak season of the Whalers!
Sure, Ronnie wasn’t a scorer like Lemieux, and there were better defensive centers out there, but there were few that could match him as a two-way center. And there was nobody you’d want more to take a faceoff.
Now, having admitted the No. 10 couldn’t rack up 100-point seasons like Lemieux, Gretzky, Hawerchuk, etc., Ronnie did continue to post 20 goal-50 assist seasons with Carolina during the “dead puck” era. While he was collecting social security. And even with the Whalers, yeah, he posted only one 100-point season, but then again, look who he was playing with. I’ll never say anything bad about Kevin Dineen, who might very well have been the Whaler’s best player, but in terms of being a scorer, Mike Bossy he wasn’t. The most talented scorer they ever had on the wing was Sylvain Turgeon, and the most he’ll ever be remembered for is being Pierre’s brother.
Ah, the memories…
Whatever happened to Sylvain Turgeon? He was the hottest thing since sliced bread at one point then seemed to fall off the face of the earth.
Ended up in Germany, apparently. One of the better deals the Whalers ever made, trading him for Verbeek.
Robert,
I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on Francis, though we are probably not that far apart in our assessments of Francis.
Ronnie has always been the epitome of one of those solid players who are concededly overlooked by many and in that sense “under-rated,” but also on the same token wildly over-rated by those who do appreciate him (I am not necessarily saying that you are “wildly” over-rating him; God knows that I get picked on frequently for my “hyperbolic” declarations). Another case similar to Francis to me, for instance, is that of Rod Brind’Amour.
Mrchips,
My high school social studies teacher used to be quite involved with the Whalers, and he told me that Sylvain was incredibly lazy and would just go through the motions during practices all the time. Given that there used to be reports about him being fat, I am not surprised.