At approximately 4:15 AM (also the time of this post), the Hartford Civic Center roof collapsed as the weight of the snow proved to be too much. Just hours earlier the Civic Center, now the XL Center, was full of fans to see the UConn men take on UMass. Luckily, there was no one in the building. The New England Whalers, who played in WHA, also called the Civic Center home.
The New England Whalers ended up finishing the ’77-78 season at the Springfield Civic Center and played the ’78-79 season there as well. The Whalers jumped to the NHL for the 1979-80 season and became known as the Hartford Whalers. The Whalers ended up back at the newly rebuilt Hartford Civic Center on January 17th, 1980. The Whale played there through the 1996-97 season when the new owner, Peter Karamonos, Jr. moved the team to Raleigh, NC where they are now known as the Carolina Hurricanes.
The reason for the collapse was determined to be a design flaw when the Civic Center was built, the original design was not followed. The roof was doomed to fail from the moment it was put up. From reading the report of the collapse, the building could have collapsed at any time. If you’d like to check out the report, click here.
Ironically enough on the 30th anniversary of the collapse, it is snowing in Hartford right now.
