[tvp2003]

First one posted today: https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/37-f...al/c-289199058

37 FOR 37: FIRST GAME AT THE CORRAL

It was standing room only when the Flames debuted in Calgary

The crowd that curtain-raising night, 7,243, was awfully tiny by, say, Madison Square Garden or Joe Louis Arena standards.

But there wasn't a square inch of spectator real estate to be had.

Oct. 9, 1980.


"It felt,'' recalls Flames' defenceman Bob Murdoch, accustomed to infinitely larger venues such as the Omni in Atlanta or the Montreal Forum, "as if we were playing in a phone booth."

Within the scope of NHL buildings, the rustic Calgary (now: Stampede) Corral gave the term "intimate" a whole new meaning.

"What amazed me,'' Calgary's GM of the time, Cliff Fletcher, says now, "is that we'd been able to sell standing-room season tickets. I think they were $25 bucks a game.

"A lot of money back then. To stand. But you had a number, so no one could stand in your spot.

"That blew my mind.

"The fans were charged up. They were into it."

That first-ever game for the relocated Flames ended in a 5-5 tie.

Given the high boards, claustrophobic atmosphere, the Flames thrived in their temporary home while the bright, shiny new Olympic Saddledome was going up across the way.

"The crazy thing about the Corral,'' muses Murdoch, "was that our dressing room was on the other side of the lobby so that the end of every period and beginning of the next period we'd have to walk through the crowd to reach the ice surface.

"If you'd had a bad game …

"They had cardboard down so we wouldn't wreck the edges of our skates.

"On those walks, you got to know people. So you'd be heading out for a period, recognize someone who was there every game and say 'Hey, Bill, how's it going?' on the way out to play.

"You don't get that at many other rinks."

Over the course of that inaugural season, the Flames would compile a 25-5-10 record while inside the cozy confines of the Corral.