What a time! So much fun. Lots of ups and downs that ended with heartbreak. Still, it was amazing to experience that all. I got the experience down here in Lethbridge. There was Flames fever down here too.
There were a few of us who would cruise the strip after Flames wins. Nothing like the Red Mile in Calgary. There were always more Flames fans cruising after each series win.
Game 7 vs Vancouver... We were winning. Empty net with the puck on Iginla's stick and someone became an inspriation to Oilers fans by throwing their sweater on the ice. Cooke scores with 5.7 seconds left and I felt rage. I smashed the TV remote (and had to buy a new one the next day). Oh the elation when Gelinas scores in OT!
My most fond moment in all of those playoffs was Gelinas scoring the OT goal in Game 6 against Detroit. That was huge. After beating the juggernaut Red Wings everything else was gravy...
Then we made the finals. It was very cool to see all the Flames fans in Lethbridge but when the Flames were up 3-2 and game 6 was in Calgary on a weekend night... I'm going to Calgary. My wife was taking a course and staying in a hotel that weekend. We watched the game at my friend's house with her husband, mom, sister and brother-in-law as she went to the game with her dad. We were all sure that we'd meet them up on the Red Mile after winning the Cup! Crushing way to lose. I wasn't as mad at losing this game as I was when Vancouver tied up in round 1 game 7 but I was certainly worried.
I felt that the Flames were going to win game 7. My co-worker and I informed our boss that if the Flames win the cup we won't make it back in time to work the next morning because we'd be heading up to the Red Mile to celebrate all night. As the clock ticked down and Leopold narrowly missed tying it up I tossed the remote to the couch... it took an odd bounce and rebounded violently out of the room (I had to buy another remote the next day!).
I watched almost every second of those playoffs, except for game 1 against Vancouver. We were at my wife's parent's place for some family gathering and I wasn't able to watch much of the game there but saw the ending. Missed maybe the first minute of play in Game 2 as we were at another family gathering and we left early to get home to watch the Flames game. Then Game 1 vs San Jose was on Mother's Day and we were supposed to go for dinner with my parents. Somehow my parents decided to pick us up and I stalled and stalled and we got to watch all of the OT. My dad was kinda stalling too!
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