New England Blizzard

From Hoopedia

The New England Blizzard was a women's professional basketball franchise based in Hartford, Connecticut. The Blizzard was a charter member of the American Basketball League (ABL). Playing from 1996 through 1998, the team produced many memorable moments for New England basketball fans and followers of women's sports in general.

The Blizzard played most of its home games in the Hartford Civic Center, but occasionally the team played at the smaller Springfield Civic Center. Though they never won a title, thee Blizzard consistently drew the most fans of any ABL franchise. Partly this was because of the strong winning tradition established at the University of Connecticut, which built a large, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable base of local fan support for the women's game. It surely didn't hurt that in 1996, the team's inaugural season, the Blizzard hired Boston Celtics legend K.C. Jones as Head coach, as Jones was easily the most widely recognized of the ABL coaches; or that the team featured several former Huskies.

Season 1

With their first draft pick, the Blizzard selected former Husky center and 1996 Olympic team veteran Rebecca Lobo. Their second pick was guard Teresa Weatherspoon who played her college ball at Louisiana Tech. That second pick was effectively wasted, as Weatherspoon never played for the Blizzard, choosing instead to play for the New York Liberty of the rival WNBA. But the Blizzard made up for that loss by picking up the former Auburn University standout Carolyn Jones (later Jones-Young), who became the Blizzard's most consistent scorer.

Season 2

In the team's second season, the team drafted another Husky center, Kara Wolters, and two other ex-Huskies. The team's winning percentage improved, and by finishing second in the Eastern Conference, the Blizzard made the playoffs for the first and last time, where they lost in the first round in two straight games to the San Jose Lasers.

Season 2-1/2

In its third season, thirteen proved to be an unlucky number for the Blizzard: 13 games into their season, on December 22, 1998 the ABL folded, leaving Blizzard fans out in the cold. Connecticut was luckier than most ABL venues -- it eventually got a WNBA team, the Connecticut Sun, which got all the way to the WNBA finals before losing in 2004 and 2005. For Hartford residents and diehard Blizzard fans, however, the Sun never quite replaced the Blizzard in their hearts.