Flames Closure

They came within one win of the Stanley Cup. Not bad for a team that was not even considered playoff-worthy when the 2003-4 preseason began as Vegas gave out 100-1 odds for the Flames to win the Cup. But Coach/GM Sutter's drive to give his team an 'identity' would payoff as the season progressed. Naysayers were just waiting for the Flames to go into their mid-season tailspin like two years ago but it never happened. Fans, even the players themselves, were watching the out-of-town scores in March as the team continued it hunt for a playoff spot. On April 4th, the team ended up a remarkable 12 games over .500, a 19-point improvement from last season. Peter Maher had dusted off his "Yeah Baby" to declared that after 7 long painful years that the Flames had made the playoffs.

At this point no one was driving around with the car flags and 17th Ave didn't have a nickname. Four out of five Canadian-based teams were facing each other in the first round giving Canadian TV & ad execs joy to know that at least two of them would be still playing in the Conference Semi's. The Flames stole game two in Vancouver and after winning games 4 & 5 had a chance to progress into the second round for the first time since 1989, the team's most glorious year. In front of the packed and now noisy Saddledome, they dug themselves into a 4-0 hole midway through the game but kept plugging away to actually force overtime. Even though the Canucks did score in the winner in the third session of OT, the Flames pronounced that they were for real and in game 7 proved so with Gelinas' quick OT killer.

The next two rounds would each take six games to finish and as each match ended, more and more people turned their attention to Canada's team; more and more people jumped on the Flames bandwagon; more and more people believed. Now for the first time in fifteen years, the Flames were back in the spotlight after knocking out all three Western Divisional winners becoming the first Canadian-based in ten years to be in the Stanley Cup finals.

I was able to personally experience 7 playoff games in the ex-library. The crowds didn't need any free t-shirt gimmicks to become the 'C' of Red. Suddenly a ticket to the Saddledome was a hot commodity with folks paying absurd amounts on eBay to forego watching the game with family and friends or a bunch of strangers at a local pub or sports pub. Everyone had a Flames jersey, as CCM had to chip in to meet the demands, making it the all-time top selling debut jersey.

With the final series and game seven still fresh in everyone's mind, there's a lot of disappointment of how we lost. But I think the Flames won the pride, respect, and joy of all Canadians. With so many accomplishments this season and to come oh so close, it just shows how far the 2003-4 Calgary Flames have come and what we have to look forward to in the upcoming seasons.