Commentary : Whalers’ Fans Have Grown Tried of Act

As usual, the Hartford Whalers opened their home playoff games with jazzy Anthony Harrington singing the national anthems. Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to have Peggy Lee sing “Is That All There Is?”

Why use a young, cheery, slick-looking tuxedoed gent like Harrington if you can get an old torch singer like Miss Lee? She must have some time on her hands.

The Whalers certainly do. The playoffs have barely begun, but for the Whalers, it’s already long past closing time.

And the only sound is of the Canadiens cleaning up.

And, if you close your eyes, Miss Lee’s mournful voice:

“Is That All There Is?”

When you are the only pro franchise in town -- in the state, for that matter -- it’s pretty hard to turn off sports-starved fans.

But the Whalers, swept out of the playoffs by the Canadiens in four straight, are on their way to doing just that.

And somebody better do major surgery on this team, or it’s probably going to get worse. Time is not on your side, Richard Gordon, the team’s new owner. But you’ll need to be careful as well as quick. A few impulsive wrong moves could throw this team into reverse and leave Whalers fans yearning for the mediocrity of the 1988-89 team. It wouldn’t be a pretty sight.

But then, neither was the Civic Center last weekend. A Beatles reunion or Elvis resurrection aside, you couldn’t have had many better draws than the tradition-rich Canadiens, winners of a record 23 Stanley Cups, the greatest franchise in hockey history. The Canadiens are to hockey what the Yankees used to be to baseball. People who don’t know a hockey puck from Friar Tuck know the Canadiens’ rep.

Thanks to back-to-back wins at The Forum in Montreal, the Canadiens came to the Civic Center for Game 3 Saturday night boasting a 2-0 series lead.

These were the playoffs, mind you, a time when teams tend to play with a tremendous intensity.

This was the first playoff game on Hartford ice. A time for Whalermaniacs, their team down but hardly out, to show their true colors.

They did. Only 13,363 showed up for Game 3 -- some 2,000 shy of a full house and the smallest Civic Center crowd of the season.

Until Game 4 Sunday night, when only 12,245 attended -- the smallest Civic Center crowd since a Dec. 17, 1986 regular season game against the Buffalo Sabres.

From the press box, which is located somewhat nearer the moon than the ice, it was an eerie scene. Hearing was disbelieving. Until the middle of the third period, when the Whalers awakened from their trance and scored two goals to force the game into overtime, the crowd was so quiet you could actually hear the sound of skates on ice.

And what of all the empty seats? Was there an insurance convention in Springfield? Or was it just that people would rather stay home and pay $2 to rent a movie they haven’t seen than pay $18 (and that’s for a cheap seat, parking not included) to see a tired old rerun.

After seeing their team eliminated from the playoffs in the first round three years in a row, after seeing Emile Francis’ plucky bunch lose 12 of 14 playoff games during that time, Whalers fans are delivering a message more crushing than an Andre The Giant body slam:

Even in a one-horse sports town like Hartford, you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.

Maybe they’re not mad as hell, Mr. Gordon, but they’re not going to take it anymore.

What to do? Like George Bush, the Whalers must face up to their No. 1 image problem -- “the wimp factor.” Barring heart transplants, that should mean a guaranteed goodbye to Sylvain Turgeon and John Anderson.

Anderson is at the end of the line, and Turgeon’s career in Hartford these last few seasons has been like a never-ending stock market crash. However little his value to the Whalers today, he’ll be worth even less tomorrow.

Kevin Dineen, the team MVP, who plays with the heart of 10 men, is the only untouchable. Close behind is center Ray Ferraro, who, besides being a stand-up, gutsy guy, scored a career high 41 goals in the regular season, second on the team to Dineen. Ferraro is one of the only Whalers with a great touch around the net. He’s definitely a keeper.

As is center Dave Tippett, another hard-charging munchkin whose market value will never match what he’s worth to the Whalers. Keep Scott Young, but only if he promises to learn how to play the point.

Goaltending? Gotta keep rookie goalie Kay Whitmore. Forget that series-ending goal you gave the Canadiens, Kay. You’ll be swell. You’ll be great.

The Whalers also will want to keep defensemen Dave Babych and Ulf Samuelsson, despite Ulf’s disappointing season. Why is it that young Whalers defensemen seldom seem to get better?

Ron Francis and goalie Peter Sidorkiewicz are prime trade bait. Nothing against Sid -- he had a good season and he’ll probably be named the goalie on the NHL’s all-rookie team -- but he’s 26, four years older than Whitmore, and his potential, unlike Kay’s, seems limited.

His trade value will never be higher. Put him in a package deal with a good (but never great) player like Ronnie, add Turgeon, and maybe the Whalers can get that bruising center they’ve been seeking. Keep Mike Liut and let him and Kay play. Because of his hefty contract ($450,000) and age (33), Liut’s market value is low. But the guy’s been too good for too long to give up on him yet.

If Harvard’s Lane MacDonald (whose rights the Whalers acquired from the Calgary Flames in the Dana Murzyn trade) is as good as he looked during the Olympics, the Whalers will have erred terribly if they fail to sign him.

But the Whalers need more than new players; they need a new attitude. They aren’t a bad team, but they’re hardly a good team. And for several seasons, they’ve been losing ground by skating in place. Their path is old and well-worn, and their fans finally seem to be tired of it.