[J pold]

Originally Posted by The Unabomber

Talking about the BOA as the best rivalry in hockey is absurd, think Leafs-Montreal and you might be looking at the best rivalry. The BOA was an amazing battle once upon a time, and until they meet in the playoffs again it's going to be just that. Even the players and Sutter were saying during the regular season that they play eachother way too much to find the ability to get up for the big "rivalry" that once was. The league can say they are focusing on rivalries all they want, playing a team 12 times in the pre season and regular season is terrible.

And to answer your question about Oiler fans throwing their support behind the Flames last year, many did and many more across Canada did. Like i said, there really is no hatred between the clubs like there use to be and until we meet in the playoffs again i will say this trend will continue. Everyone hates the Canucks, why? Because we had a great series with them last season and that's what causes foes, something that happened 20 years ago can't continue with the intensity that it once had.

If bettman was serious about starting the whole rivalry thing again then he would have brought back the divisions that play each other in the playoffs.

I don’t feel like typing a lot here so read this article

just a bit from it

Battle of Alberta (circa 1980s)
Call it Montreal-Toronto West. During the 1980s, the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames housed some of the best players in history. Unfortunately for the Flames, they had to contend with the Great One. Edmonton edged Calgary in the Smythe Division finals in 1983, 1984 and 1988, winning the Cup two of those three postseasons. Steve Smith's own-goal gave Flames fans some vindication in 1986 as they edged the Oilers, but Calgary would only win the Cup in 1989, a year they did not meet Edmonton in the postseason. With the Flames sporting arguably the league's best player in Jarome Iginla and the Oilers' revamped lineup, the Battle will be extra sweet this season.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print...427&type=story

It pretty much sums up my point