A sellout crowd of 9,170 filled the Mohegan Sun Arena for game 3 of the 2019 WNBA championship series. More WNBA photos through the years
Connecticut sports fans are being left behind – again.
Another professional sports franchise is playing their final game in Connecticut on Thursday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena as the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun hosts the expansion Toronto Tempo before moving to Houston where they will be rebranded as the Houston Comets next spring.
The NHL’s Hartford Whalers left in 1997 and moved to North Carolina where they became the Carolina Hurricanes with two Stanley Cup championships in this century.
The New England Blizzard of the American Basketball League came to Hartford shortly after the Whalers left but the ABL collapsed just before Christmas in 1998.
It’s been different with the Sun, who were sold last spring to the owners of the NBA’s Houston Rockets.
Fans have had a whole season to say goodbye and cheer for old favorites and friends with the retirement of four players numbers – Alyssa Thomas, Tina Charles, Jonquel Jones and Jasmine Thomas – and the installation of two coaches – Mike Thibault and Curt Miller – as Sun Legends.
That was the whole idea of the Sunset season as the Sun branded their final season in Uncasville.
“It is a celebration of the WNBA. It’s a celebration of the Connecticut Sun,” said Jennifer Rizzotti, president of the team. “We wanted it to feel positive even though we knew a lot of people would be disappointed.
“Sunsets are beautiful. They stand for a lot. They stand for the things you got to enjoy along the way throughout the journey,” she said. “We can be upbeat before the sun goes down. We can celebrate the legacy that we’re leaving all of the good things we’ve done for new England and our New England communities and we’re celebrating that.”
Indiana’s Caitlyn Clark had a game-high 25 points in a 85-75 WNBA win over the Connecticut Sun at the Mohegan Sun Arena in May. More WNBA photos through the years
It’s been a outstanding journey in Uncasville with two Eastern Conference championships and four trips to the WNBA finals. There were four WNBA All-Star games at the Mohegan Sun Arena (2005, 2009, 2013, 2015) and three WNBA drafts (2014-16).
Since they arrived from Orlando in 2003, the Sun provided us with the opportunity to see the best women’s basketball players on the planet play in Connecticut. Las Vegas’ Aja Wilson, New York’s Brianna Stewart, Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier and Indiana’s Caitlyn Clark were some of the headliners this year in Uncasville.
This season, the Sun played before two big crowds in Hartford – their first games in the capital city since 2003 – and in front of another big crowd in Boston at TD Garden. There were free fan festivals before each game in Hartford and Boston.
“It’s hard,” Rizzotti said. “Our fans are sad but at the same time we’re trying to create a celebration of women’s basketball in Connecticut and across the New England region.”
Dallas’ Paige Bueckers keeps the ball away from Connecticut’s Leila Lacan during July’s WNBA game in Hartford. It was the largest crowd to watch a WNBA game in state history. More WNBA photos through the years
The departure of the Whalers and Blizzard were different and more abrupt.
When the NHL’s Hartford Whalers played their final game in Hartford in April 1997, it was an emotional event with Hartford beating Tampa Bay, 2-1, in a game had no impact on the playoff race with Hartford having been eliminated a few days earlier.
But it meant everything to the fans who cried and cheered for as long as they could. The game-winning goal from our captain Kevin Dineen brought joy in the hearts of fans on a cold day. Fans lingered in the building long after the final horn blew and echoes of Brass Bonanza bounced off the walls of the Hartford Civic Center.
In December 1998, when the ABL folded, players and staff of the the New England Blizzard women’s basketball team were at home for the holidays when word of the league’s bankruptcy was announced.
The Blizzard, who had an energetic point guard named Jennifer Rizzotti, had eight of the top 10 crowds in ABL history in Hartford, including three games with more than 15,000 fans in the 1997-98 season.
On a Saturday morning before the top-ranked UConn women’s basketball team was to host West Virginia in Hartford in early January, the Blizzard held a rally around center court in the Civic Center lobby outside of the ticket booths.
The quick end to the ABL left Blizzard staff with no resources. Civic Center mall management provided a stage and about 20 chairs but no working microphone. An estimated 3,000 fans swarmed around the stage to say goodbye.
But the crowd was quiet when it had to be and cheered long and hard when it wanted to, which was often.
Blizzard players and front office staff attended the rally including fan favorites Rizzotti, Kara Wolters and Carolyn (Jones) Young, who had injured her knee a few weeks earlier. Head coach K.C. Jones was there along with former Blizzard general manager Pam Batalis, who helped build the team.
“I feel like I am losing a family,” Young said in 1999 with tears in her eyes. “It’s hard to say goodbye. You are the greatest fans in the world that I have ever played before in my life.”
Rizzotti stood on a chair on the stage to address the crowd.
Nearly a quarter of a century later, Rizzotti was in that same spot in Hartford before Connecticut’s game against the Los Angeles Sparks in May in what is now called People’s Bank Arena.
“The ABL folding was a shock to everybody at midseason knowing how much we were all giving of ourselves physically, mentally and emotionally to make a professional women’s basketball league successful in the U.S. To have it all crash down in one night was really, really hard,” she said.
“Although it is heart breaking that the team will be leaving (Connecticut), at least we have a little bit of a runway to celebrate our fans and give our players the experience they deserve and remind them why playing a Connecticut Sun uniform is special and has been special for 23 years.
“Thanks for bringing up that memory,” she said with a chuckle.
The Blizzard and their fans didn’t have the chance to say goodbye outside of that one rally. The Sun and their fans have had that chance this season.
How will it end on Thursday in Uncasville?
The Sun (10-33) haven’t provided their fans here in the Nutmeg State with many victories on the hardwood this year. Perhaps, the Sun can snap a six-game losing streak and end their 23-year run in Uncasville with a victory.
Sunday’s game in Uncasville against Minnesota was branded as Homecoming. Many former players and team employees were in attendance. There was a post-game ceremony to name former coach Mike Thibault as a Sun Legend.
Connecticut never led on Sunday but with 2:56 remaining and the Sun down by 13, most of the sellout crowd was still in the building. More than hour after Minnesota’s win over the Sun, there were still former players and officials at center court catching up and reminiscing.
I am sure there will be some tears and some long faces on Thursday evening because our ride in the WNBA is over.
But what a ride it was and the Sun gave us a chance this year to say goodbye and to experience WNBA basketball again for one last time.
Blaze, the Sun mascot, in 2019.
