It was FOX that brought us the glowing puck, not ABC.

Marc, good for you making the game in person! And congratulations on getting the t-shirt--love team-related swag! And thank you for not gloating about my boys, but go ahead...the Flames played a strong game & are in the playoffs. I was impressed to see some Kings fans in Calgary but keep in mind that at Staples Center, we often have Blackhawks, Bruins, Avs, Shark, etc fans in our midst (rare to see any wearing Canadian team gear...) so maybe, in the shrinking universe, we'll see more out-of-place fans at games. You mention that Alex Frolov and Ian Laperriere didn't play--Alex is in Murray's doghouse and Lappy was exhausted from the previous night's game in Edmonton (needed IV fluids) so was kept out of the game. Your guys are coming to town this Friday for Fan Appreciation Night--I'll bring a "GO FLAMES" banner to counter your "GO KINGS"

~Adam

ADam, you and Marc are such good sports. And Joe in Philly, thanks for the correction.

Thanks Puckman, I feel the same way about you and Adam too!

Well it's official...THEY'RE IN!!! Yes, the eight-year drought is finally over as the Flames clinched a playoff berth in a 1-0 win over Phoenix in front of a home crowd tonight. As the game ended, the announcer let out a yell that sounded an awful lot like Howard Dean.

The lone goal of the game was scored by Jarome Iginla, his league-leading 40th of the season. In a postgame interview, Craig Conroy said he feels bad for those teams like the Coyotes who won't be going to the playoffs, because he can certainly relate to them. However, he added with his cute grin, "but I don't feel THAT bad about it".

Good job Flames. And bring on the playoffs baby. Let the champagne bottles pop.

Yeah, Flames!!! Now the longest playoff drought in the NHL belongs to..... the Rangers Of course, the Flames could be facing a tough first round opponent--the Canucks.

I hope you'll be able to attend one of the playoff games in person, Marc; the electricity in playoff arenas is completely different (if I remember correctly wink ) from the regular season and is well-worth experiencing--even if you have to mortgage off a firstborn!

~Adam

[ April 01, 2004, 08:44 AM: Message edited by: Adam ]

Congrats to the Flames! Making the playoffs is always preferable to the alternative. wink

Thanks for the kind words, guys. And Adam, I'm going to try to get to at least one playoff game. My only regret is that some of the teams featured in our hockey threads (Kings, Rangers, Capitals) will not see any postseason action this year, but I hope we will continue to see commentary from Adam, Cattledog and Trevor (as well as Puckman and others, of course) over the next two months or so until the Stanley Cup is awarded. But we still have Joe's Flyers, Kenny's Lightning, tphutch's Canucks and Y.T.'s Flames as contenders. It might be a good idea to start individual threads for each of the eight pairings in the first round, once all the seed positions have been determined (since my participation was rather limited throughout the season last year, I'm not sure if that's how it was organized, but it's just a thought).

As for the Flames, the #6 position in the West is still not a certainty. With only one game remaining, the Oilers can not pass us, but it's possible for either St Louis or Nashville to make a grab for that spot, if Calgary loses its last two games. Anyway, I'd much prefer the Flames to meet either Colorado or Vancouver in the first round, maybe San Jose, but definitely not Detroit or Dallas (I don't think the Red Wings are going to allow an 'upstart' team like the Flames do what the Ducks did to them last year!)

[ April 01, 2004, 12:39 PM: Message edited by: Marc ]

from Marc:

.....but I hope we will continue to see commentary from Adam....in the next two months or so until the Stanley Cup is awarded.

Thanks for the nice thought. It'll take a two-by-four to the head to keep me from Outsports (I see people lining up with two-by-fours now....) I love the hockey playoffs and the run for the Cup, no matter that my boys aren't going to be in it. As a bonus, not having a dog in this year's hunt (though I did predict a Canucks/Senators finals at the start of the season,) allows me to focus on the truly shallow aspects of the game--hair color changes, playoff beards, cute goalies.

~Adam

Marc -

Goodluck to you and the flames. Should be a great series - lots of history between these two teams. Hopefully it's an entertaining series (with the Canucks winning of course!)

Interesting stat is that the Canucks have met Calgary 5 times previous to this year, and only won two of them, in '82 and '94 - the two years that they went to the Stanley Cup Final. Can we add '04 to that list??

Good luck!

T

I'm looking forward to this series too, tphutch. A Flames-Canucks match-up is exactly what I was hoping for. Were you able to get playoff tickets? I'm sure they are as hard to come by in Vancouver as they are here...I tried last Friday, and tickets for games 3 and 4 were sold out within two hours. As I mentioned on another thread, Vancouver has been hot lately, and I don't think Bertuzzi's absence is going to be as big a factor as some are predicting. Also, unlike the Flames, the Canucks have had recent experience with the pressures of the playoffs, so that may be a plus for them. But this season, head-to-head the teams have been fairly even (7 points vs 5 points in Van's favour), and Kiprusoff, of course, has been sensational.

Well the Flames closed their regular season in Adam's part of the world, with a win in Los Angeles and a loss in Anaheim. The only thing at stake was a possible 5th seed for Calgary, but that really wasn't important, as most fans here wanted a Canucks-Flames series anyway. Ducks highlight: they managed to kill off a seven-minute penalty. Flames highlight: Jarome Iginla scored his 41st goal, tying for top honours with Ilya Kovalchuk and Rick Nash. Roman Turek played goal, giving Miikka Kiprusoff some extra rest before the playoffs, and more importantly preserving his league-best GAA (1.69) and save percentage (.933). But talk here is that Kipper won't get the Vezina trophy because he only played 38 games, even though that is well above the minimum for consideration.

All in all, a satisfying season for the Flames. Their 94 points is a huge improvement over the past several years. Bring on the Canucks! And thank you to all the Outsports hockey fans who have contributed to this thread over the season.

I too was hoping for a Calagary/Van series in a totally selfish way. The earliest games will be at 6:00 pacific so I don't have to skip out of work to watch a game. I hate it when they play out east and the games start at 4PM our time.

The reduced wear and tear due to travel all the way to Dallas is a big plus for both our teams.

Wow, the first post in this (re-titled) thread in nearly three months! But since Adam has revived the Kings thread, I guess the rest of us ought to do the same with our respective teams.

Today it was announced that the Flames' Roman Turek, arguably the most overpaid goalie in the league, has voluntarily re-structured his contract with a much lower salary that will save the club $3-4 million next season. Apparently Turek wanted to stay in Calgary anyway, even as the #2 goalie, so all parties are happy with the arrangement. This will free up more money to re-sign stars like Jarome Iginla, Miikka Kiprusoff and others. Unfortunately, it looks like Craig Conroy will be leaving us as he is an unrestricted free agent. He will be missed, not only for his talent but for his personality and good looks! I wish him well; at least I still have his shirt to wear wink .

I also heard that one of my other NHL hotties, Geoff Sanderson, has returned to the Columbus Blue Jackets, after his brief stint in Vancouver last season, so I guess I'll be seeing less of him too. frown

No gloating intended, since the Flames didn't win the Cup, but The Sporting News has awarded Calgary the honour of being the Best Hockey City (step aside, Detroit!) Scroll down to third story:

http://www.sportingnews.com/features/bests...004/bestof.html

Further to the Denis Gauthier signing as discussed in another thread, this interesting tidbit appeared in today's Calgary Herald (excerpt from article):

It's not a given, however, that Gauthier will be wearing a Flames jersey for long. Pundits are already speculating Sutter made the deal to make Gauthier, rumoured to be among Sutter's less favoured players, more attractive as trade bait now that he's locked into a two-year contract at a salary less than the league average.

Before leaving on vacation, I had hoped to have some good news to post about goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff, but the local media have been strangely silent on the subject for the last few days. His arbitration hearing was supposed to have been held more than a week ago, but was delayed due to a death in the family of one of the lawyers involved. The last I heard, the Flames were offering Kipper a three-year $6.8 million deal, certainly a big increase over the paltry (by NHL standards) 800 gr. he received last year, but his agent wanted something like $4 mil per year in a multi-year contract. I certainly hope they can work out a deal as it would be a shame to lose a goalie of Kiprusoff's calibre.

What happens when you light all of the candles on Marc's birthday cake?

You get one huge Calgary Flame!

Happy Birthday, Marc! I am sure that if the NHL was in action this season, the Flames would be playing in your honour, today!

Happy Birthday to my Canadian bud, Marc!!!!

Happy Birthday Marc! I had the pleasure of meeting Marc this past summer in Ottawa. He is definitely a nice, intelligent guy. I hope you enjoy your special day!!!

What does this have to do with the Calgary Flames? I'm calling the Topic Police...kidding!

Happy birthday, Marc! Hope it's a wonderful day!

Hope it's a birthday to remember, Marc.

~Adam

Bonne fête, Marc!

Hey thanks/ merci guys for all the birthday wishes and kind words, and to Cattledog for reviving this long-dormant Flames thread! Of course, being the wise-guy that he is, I knew C-dog couldn't resist a pun and a subtle reference to the size of the 'flames' on my cake By an amazing coincidence, if you add up all the visible jersey numbers for Mike Commodore, Jarome Iginla, Jordan Leopold, Oleg Saprykin, Steve Montador (swoon) and Chuck Kobasew, you will arrive at my age as of today. So the secret's out at last eek! , I'm sure most of you figured me for about half that number (yeah, right! ) Oh, and by the way, you have great taste in music, C-dog! wink

(Prior approval obtained from Topic Police).

They didn't win the Cup but the Flames impressed enough this year to be crowned Team of the year by Canadian Press.