Quote:
Originally Posted by redforever
Yes, in the early 80s, the Oilers rolled the Flames. But by the end of the 80s, these were the two best teams in the league.
The league was smaller then, with 4 divisions. The Flames and Oilers were both in the same division and we played each other 8 times during the regular season...already setting up a fierce battle to advance in the playoffs.
They were both in the Smythe Division so only one of them could get out to advance further. That made games even more intense as it was tough for either team to realize that one of the two top teams would not advance. Those games were REAL battles.
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Right. in 87-88, weren't they in a dogfight for the president's trophy until the last few weeks? There's an amazing game on youtube of a game in March at the dome with them and the Flames winning. (I realise what happened in the 88 playoffs) but as someone who was only 3 when they won the cup, and watching it, it was an education and an insight into the pure hatred of the BOA. I moved to Cochrane in 1997 from Europe, and my first hockey experience was singing the national anthem with the Calgary Boy's Choir at a regular season game between the Avalanche and the Flames. Got to watch it from a box after the anthem. I was instantly hooked. I was quickly indoctrinated into the E=NG at the time, even when I wasn't even aware the franchise was in its darkest period of its existence.