Yeah we were distracted on May Day when the Oilers beat the Dead Things in game six. Whyte Trash Avenue was crammed with fans for hours distracting us from the Flames sputering out against the Mighty Ducks. However tonight well we are all cheering for the Flames. Really.
I mean who wouldn't want the Battle of Alberta.
It's better than the Stanley Cup. All else pales in comparisson of this historic rivalry.
And we have to make up for the regular season match up.
Besides we all know that Oil douses Flame. Bring em on.
Oilers fans cheer on Flames for Battle of Alberta
Edmonton Journal
Published: Wednesday, May 03, 2006Many Edmonton Oiler fans will be doing something totally out of character tonight.
They’ll be cheering for the Calgary Flames.
As the Flames face elimination in Game 7 of their playoff series against Anaheim, Oilers fans hoping for a Battle of Alberta are temporarily switching allegiances.
Journal columnist John MacKinnon says a lot of excitement is being fueled by hopes for an Edmonton-Calgary series.
“It’s a unique event,” he says. “An Edmonton-Calgary playoff series is like no other sporting event. That level of excitement is something that people want to see again. All the drama and intensity and memories of wonderful playoff series between Calgary and Edmonton is what’s driving their short-term cheering for calgary.”
And the city is up for it, says MacKinnon, who is in Calgary for the game.
“Driving in from the airport, every other car has a Calgary Flames flag flapping from the window. And people are talking about it. It doesn’t matter who you’re talking to, it’s on everybody’s mind.”
As for the game itself, he expects to see two teams out to prove they deserve to move to the next round in the playoffs.
MacKinnon: “Calgary plays a very defensive, intense, hard-hitting style of play. Nothing fancy, just trying to choke the life out of a very talented, very speedy team from Anaheim. It’s a contrast. Often, when we see Calgary play just about anybody, we see a very nuts-and-bolts hockey team try to exert its will on a team that is usually much more talented.”
And, of course, he expects a sea of red Flames jerseys in the Saddledome and along the Red Mile.
MacKinnon will be blogging from the game tonight (click here) and is part of the Journal team that will be providing full coverage of the game in Thursday’s paper.
The game starts at 7 p.m. It is being carried live on CBC TV.
Battle of Alberta: A Century of Hockey’s Greatest Rivalry
Can$19.95
Steven Sandor
Alberta has long been a big part of the frantic Canadian hockey scene, and even before Alberta became a province in 1905, the intense hockey rivalry between Calgary and Edmonton was in full swing. In The Battle of Alberta the rough- and-tumble relationship between these two hockey hotbeds is presented in all its colourful glory. The tussle got its start in 1895 when an all-star team from Calgary journeyed to Edmonton to take on the mighty Thistles and a team of Northwest Mounted Police pucksters. Calgary came away victorious; Edmonton vowed revenge, and thus began a long procession of battling teams in both cities. Illustrated with archival photographs of the many teams and players from the far and near past, hockey fans throughout Alberta and across Canada will delight in this wonderful history of hockey’s longest and greatest rivalry.
STEVEN SANDOR is the former editor-in-chief of Edmonton’s Vue Weekly magazine. He is currently the North American editor of Face-Off, one of Europe’s largest hockey magazines, and Zone, the official magazine of the Edmonton Oilers. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta, where he works part-time for the Edmonton Sun.
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