[TheScorpion]

It was the last professional hockey championship won by the Flames' organization, and the last time an AHL team in the Maritimes brought the Cup home. May 28, 2001.

The full video of the decisive Game 6 can be found here.



I had the opportunity to speak to the man on the call, Andy Campbell, for a half-hour in advance of this anniversary. He shared some great stories about the people on that team and his experience becoming a part of the organization.

https://thewincolumn.ca/2021/05/28/t...oadcast-booth/

A couple select excerpts:

Spoiler!

After the initial road trip to Virginia, during which Campbell called a Flames goal, scored by Betts, for the first time, the team returned home for Campbell’s first visit as Flames commentator. During that respite in Saint John, Campbell met rookie defenseman Steve Montador during a community outreach visit to the nearby town of Saint Andrews, N.B.

“On the way back on the bus, I sat next to Steve Montador, who, at the time, was getting very little ice-time. Never drafted in the [Ontario Hockey League], never drafted in the NHL, working hard to find a spot on the Flames,” said Campbell. “He and I started talking and found out there were some circles that connected in our lives.”

Montador eventually made the NHL on a full-time basis with Calgary in 2002–03. Most notably, he scored the overtime winner in the Flames’ Game 1 win over the San Jose Sharks in the 2004 Western Conference Final.

He ultimately played 571 NHL games while spending time in Calgary, Florida, Anaheim, Boston, Buffalo, and Chicago. In 2015, Montador died suddenly at the age of 35; a posthumous examination of his brain showed he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

“I think we spent the entire trip back talking. Monty was a pretty close guy to me through all that time,” Campbell added. He also noted Montador eventually became close with his brother, Jamie Campbell, who currently hosts Blue Jays Central on Sportsnet. “Our relationship continued in the second season. I think of Steve a lot and what he went through and, ultimately, the tragic end of his life.”

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He also singled out backup goaltender Levente Szuper, who joined Saint John that season directly out of the OHL, as somebody with whom he remains in correspondence.

“I have a niece who’s going away to school in Hungary coming up in September. Levente Szuper and I still keep in touch, he lives in Budapest, so he’s doing some groundwork, possibly, for us in terms of looking for a place for my niece to live,” said Campbell. “[Szuper] never really caught on at the NHL level, never really caught on with Calgary, and went and played in Europe.

“I had given him the nickname ‘The Backstop from Budapest’ and that kind of followed him around Europe, too,” Campbell added. “He and I were Facebook messaging just the other day and it came up and I was like, ‘Man, I just pulled that out of thin air.'”

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“The focus and determination of everyone from Jim right through to the training staff, myself—I pushed myself to be as good as they were on the ice,” said Campbell. “I pushed myself to be as good as I could be on the microphone. That just kind of rippled through the organization and I think that was what pushed that team to accomplish what it was able to accomplish.

“Nobody expected that of that team that year,” Campbell added. “It’s a tremendous moment. Having stayed in New Brunswick since that day, people still talk about that time. I can’t go to Saint John and somebody doesn’t say, ‘Man, those Flames, that was a team.’ I wear that ring every day.”