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There was a time, not so long ago, when Sunday night in Hartford meant something special. And on this October evening, as a crisp New England chill pressed against the walls of the Hartford Civic Center, the echoes of a city once steeped in hockey tradition returned to life.
It was Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals — or at least the baseball version of it — between the Edmonton Oilers and the Hartford Whalers, a matchup that felt both unexpected and delightfully nostalgic.
The Oilers, a franchise forever associated with offensive brilliance, did what they’ve so often done when the stakes are highest: they found a way to seize the moment. An 8–5 victory, powered by a virtuoso performance from shortstop Adrie Sijtsma — a night that will be remembered in the annals of Edmonton postseason lore.
Sijtsma, the soft-spoken but fiercely competitive shortstop, didn’t just have a good night. He had the kind of night that swings championships. Three hits. Five runs batted in. And most memorably, with the game tied in the sixth inning, a towering three-run home run into the cool Hartford night, breaking the 5–5 deadlock and silencing a crowd of more than 43,000.
“Nice to see our side come away with the win,” he said afterward, understated, perhaps deliberately so. But make no mistake — this was his game.
For Hartford, the return to the game’s grandest stage was itself a triumph, a reminder of what once was. The Whalers struck early, riding the bats of Francis and Dineen, jumping ahead 5–0 in a frenzy of noise and green sweaters. But as championship teams do, Edmonton absorbed the storm, then methodically reversed the tide.
Behind steady relief pitching and an opportunistic lineup — including a critical double from Wayne Gretzky in the fifth and a big swing from H. In-ho — the Oilers turned a deficit into a statement.
In Hartford, a city whose sports soul still beats to the rhythm of brass bonanzas and bygone rinks, this was more than a box score. It was a night that felt like history brushing up against the present.
And so, as the crowd filed out into the cool autumn air, Edmonton carried a 1–0 series lead, while Hartford carried something less tangible, but no less real: the hope that this series is far from over.
Tomorrow, they’ll do it again. Same place. Same stakes. A little colder perhaps. A little louder, too.
Final Score: Edmonton 8, Hartford 5.
Player of the Game: Adrie Sijtsma.
Attendance: 43,942.