For Bruins fans, there were reasons to go to Hartford

This excerpt from “Bleeding Green: A History of the Hartford Whalers” (Copyright 2022) by Boston Globe sports web producer Christopher Price, is reprinted by permission of University of Nebraska Press. It was released on Nov. 1.

While the Bruins didn’t always focus on the Whalers as their primary foe — that ire was usually reserved for the Canadiens — Hartford almost always viewed Boston as its No. 1 rival. Add in the fact that tickets at the Civic Center were easier to get than seats in Boston Garden, and it seemed like there was just as much Black and Gold as Green and White when the Whalers and Bruins met in Hartford.

“That was always a problem,” said Whalers PA announcer Greg Gilmartin. “I mean, the season tickets sold well, but there was always room for Bruins fans when they played in Hartford. There was fighting going on a lot of times. Put it this way: everything was either cheered or jeered, one way or another. There was a sense of real animosity at those games, to a point where there was some real intensity.”

“When the Bruins and Rangers were in town, and you were on the concourse, if someone scored, the cheers were such that you had to wait a couple of seconds for Brass Bonanza,” said longtime Hartford sportscaster Rich Coppola. “If you heard it, you knew the Whalers had scored. If you didn’t, you knew it was New York or Boston. That’s what the cheering was like.”

Fifteen years later, Red Sox fans would make a similar trek to Baltimore; cheap seats, easy location, and a team that would beat up on a division rival. For Bruins’ fans, the Hartford Civic Center became their own version of Camden Yards.

“I loved going there through the 1990s,” said veteran New England hockey writer Mick Colageo. “I loved driving into town and seeing this parade of black and gold walking down Asylum Street an hour before the start of the game. It was like Camden Yards for Boston hockey fans. Just a pure takeover. And let’s face it — it was easier to get a ticket.”

You could argue that the rivalry peaked during the 199091 season, a year that included a bitter brawl at the Boston Garden on the back end of a homeand-home series between the two teams. There were 100 penalty minutes handed out in that one, many of which came after a third-period hit Hartford’s Ed Kastelic put on Craig Janney, one that set off a memorable melee.

“I was coming back into my zone as a winger, back checking in the slot, and I was on the ice with Janney and Neely. It wasn’t my normal matchup — thinking about it now, I’m not sure why I was out there,” Kastelic recalled. “But I was just coming back, and I had settled into the slot, and Craig was coming into that area, maybe five to 10 feet away, and he was looking in the other direction. I hit him. I didn’t mean to clock him, but he was coming my direction, and he didn’t see me. I didn’t hit him hard, but he looked like he was hit and he went down. I just didn’t move out of the way.”

The hit produced plenty of fireworks. Dean Evason started tangling with Cam Neely, and Chris Nilan and Kastelic went at it for a bit.

“Then, there were a couple of guys trying to get at me . . . I think Nilan was one of them. Nothing really happened at first, but they were escorting me off the ice,” he added.

“The benches at the old Boston Garden were side by side, and you basically had to walk through the Bruins’ bench to get to the locker room,” Kastelic said. “I saw Byers there, ready to meet me. I anticipated the door opening up, I gave him a quick jab, and that’s when he tried to punch me and that’s when the benches erupted. You had [Pat] Verbeek, who is good with the stick, working there as well. He was a stand-up guy who would score goals and was feisty. The glass between the benches started shaking. ‘Oh my God. What’s going on.’

“So yeah, every time we played them, there was a lot of intensity. You could feel it all the time.”

“It was a great rivalry,” recalled former Bruin Bobby Carpenter. “The place was always packed — it was very exciting. Hartford always rose to the occasion against the Bruins, so we never went in there and played soft or we’d get beat pretty good. But you always knew you were going in there to play a game. It was always a tough one. It was a great place to play.”

One night, after Neely gave Geoff Sanderson a cheap shot, Adam Burt went after him.

“The thing about Cam was that he was a lot tougher than me, but I knew I had to get into it with him after that, especially because Sandy was our best scorer at the time,” recalled Burt.

“So, we’re going at it pretty good, and I get the idea to switch up hands and clock him with my left. I gave him a black eye and knocked him down. Well, our bench wouldn’t shut up. They’re egging him on. ‘Burt kicked your butt, Cam.’ You could see him getting more and more mad as it went in. I was like, ‘Shut up, guys. I don’t want to fight him all night.’ Sure enough, when we got out of the penalty box, he came after me again. He wasn’t going to stop, and he eventually got some payback.”

Things were equally as spicy off the ice as well. One retired Hartford policeman — who chose to remain anonymous — recalled one night in the late 1980s where the Bruins’ bus was boxed in after an overtime win for the Whalers at the Civic Center, and Boston coach Terry O’Reilly wasn’t happy about it.

“When the Bruins arrived at their bus to travel home, a car had blocked the bus in. Terry became so upset, he was screaming every swear in the book. ‘[Expletive] Hartford. This city sucks.’ Well, the Bruins bus waited 5 minutes, when Terry lost it. He grabbed a hockey stick and started whacking the parked car. He destroyed it. He then had some players pick up the destroyed car to allow an exit for the bus.

“Hartford Police were required to make an arrest. We called a commander to the scene to make the call. Terry was foaming at the mouth. I was just thinking that if we arrested this guy, the bus full of Bruins were going to fight back. Well, the District Chief issued a summons to O’Reilly for criminal mischief with a court appearance. The ticket was issued and four police motor units escorted the bus out of the city.

“By the way, the chief was disciplined for his actions, by not making a custodial [physical] arrest.”