What's your defining player/moment/statistic from this season?

[Jaybo]

Lots to choose from in each category obviously!

Here's mine...

Player: Gaudreau's emergence as a superstar you can't take your eyes off

Moment: all of the third period comebacks, especially LA and Boston

Statistic: Kris Russell setting the shot blocking record

[MrMastodonFarm]

All those centers going down within days of each other and Monahan taking control and never looking back.

Hartley: Sean, we love how good you are on defence but we need you to score more
Monahan: Okay.

[killer_carlson]

2 goals down vs NJ. Pull the goalie, score the tying goal on a play that has both Giordano and Brodie below the faceoff dot and near the goal line.

Guts and this team has tonnes of it.

Player: Dennis Wideman bouncing back to a career season and taking on a leadership role in the biggest games after Giordano and Glencross aren't in the room anymore.

Stat: Lance Bouma's goal total. Not only career high, but comes out of no where in the player's history. Shows the depth of the team.

[getbak]

Player: Johnny. There's a buzz every time he touches the puck
Moment: The LA comeback
Stat: Monahan scoring 30G/30A as a 20 year-old

[HOWITZER]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

2 goals down vs NJ. Pull the goalie, score the tying goal on a play that has both Giordano and Brodie below the faceoff dot and near the goal line.

Guts and this team has tonnes of it.

Player: Dennis Wideman bouncing back to a career season and taking on a leadership role in the biggest games after Giordano and Glencross aren't in the room anymore.

Stat: Lance Bouma's goal total. Not only career high, but comes out of no where in the player's history. Shows the depth of the team.

First game in the dome in about 3 years for me and by far the funnest game I've ever been to. After that game I finally accepted that the team had a special level of killer instinct.

Player: Josh Jooris. The guy went from being undrafted, spending a full season in Abbotsford to being a full-time NHLer this year. It's really exciting to watch him play. Obviously JG is the easy pick here though.

Stat: Playoffs. Need I say more?

[Super-Rye]

Bob Hartley's post game press conference from Oct. 31st after the Flames beat the Pred's 4-3. He gave a speech about how the team was going to "stick with the pack and they were going to draw confidence from it".

It was the moment I thought that maybe this team could actually make the playoffs.

[JJ1532]

Player: Mark Giordano. Simply immense in his 61 games with the team, his leadership and play on the ice allowed was one of the main reasons we were in a play off spot at the time he went down.

Moment: Gio's superb move for the OT winner in LA to snap the 8 game losing streak. That game for me was the turning point in the season.

Statistic: Jiri Hudler blitzing his previous career high of 57 points by posting 76 points this year, besting his total for both goals and assists. Superb play by him.

[Darkwater]

Without digging uber hard, it's the moment when Mony said Gio means a lot to the team and they care about him.

That was really something from our future captain.

[PugnaciousIntern]

Player: Bouma. He leads the character of this team.
Moment: Hudler's EN goal to clinch the playoffs. I will admit, I didn't let myself believe all season, until that moment.
Statistic: CF% 47.4

[EVERLAST]

This team acting like one

[CanadaMatt]

The Bruins win where Russell (I think, maybe Brodie) scored a last second goal that bounced off the top of the net, onto Rask's back and in.

The day a God revealed his favourite team.

We were a certainty for the post season after that!

[N-E-B]

Player: Bouma. Guy represents everything this team stands for.
Moment: Clinching a playoff spot. The comeback against LA is a close 2nd.
Stat: 45 wins. Unbelievable.

[Dion]

Player: Jiri Hudler and his work mentoring Gaudreau on and off the ice. His influence on the the develoment of Gaudreau and his game has been huge.

Moment: Gio going down to an injury and the team refusing to quit. You saw the character in this team when players like Engelland elevated thier play to cover for the loss of Gio.

Statistics: I would have to say the 16 goals scored by Bouma. He took a giant step this season with his play and clearly established himsef as a top 6 player.

[GranteedEV]

Player: Who else but Mark Giordano? Never ever quit on a game, and this team eventually reflected their captain.

Moment: Johnny's Hatty followed by Gio's backhander to win in LA to end the 8 game losing streak when all hope looked lost.

Statistic: 24-1-1 (2nd in league) when leading after 2 periods + 10 wins (3rd in league) / 4 OTL (5th in league) when trailing. All about that 3rd quarter!

[dammage79]

Going to go off of the beaten path a bit here but Dennis Wideman's emergence after the Gio injury. Really took the points producing reigns and ran with the added minutes.
Became an unheralded star in his own right this year.

Moment? easily clinching a playoff berth.

Stat? The Flames being one of the leagues best third period scoring teams, right long with one of the leagues best 3rd period defensive teams. Just was not something you'd see from a Flames team for almost a decade.


Honorable mention: Jonas Hillers light out, show stealing performance against the Blackhawks earlier this year. And the W in Boston.

[Gaudfather]

Player Jiri Hudler - for his leadership and his passion.

Moment Johnny Gaudreau - in the Dallas game - first a shot block and then diving play in defensive end to prevent a possible goal.

Statistic This version of the Flames tying the 88/89 version for most road wins.

[troutman]

Third period dominance.

This team is super fit - full credit to coaches and trainers.

Should have a big edge in playoff o/t.

Also - the discipline was huge. Rarely short handed.

[tvp2003]

Player: Giordano. His numbers before he got injured speak for themselves. In the face of all the "advanced stats/unsustainable" criticism, you couldn't argue against Gio because he had the numbers to back it up. It was also his leadership that set the tone for the whole team, starting last year but especially this year. Hartley deserves credit as well for having everyone buy into the system, but no player epitomizes "Always earned, never given" moreso than the Captain.

Moment: For me, it was the comeback at home against Colorado (Dec 4) -- and not just because I was able to watch it live. Wideman ties it with a minute left, Monahan wins it in overtime. Hartley's 400th win. There were third period comebacks that happened before (including the last minute two-goal comeback against NJ) but this was the first time I expected them to comeback and win... and they did!

Stat: Two players (Hudler and Monahan) over 30 goals, three players (Hudler, Monahan and Gaudreau) with over 60 points. Had a grand total of zero in either category last year. If you recall from the start of the season, Treliving's biggest concern this year was scoring (especially with the loss of Cammelleri). We now have one of the most dangerous lines in the NHL going into the playoffs.

Originally Posted by CanadaMatt

The Bruins win where Russell (I think, maybe Brodie) scored a last second goal that bounced off the top of the net, onto Rask's back and in.

The day a God revealed his favourite team.

We were a certainty for the post season after that!

It was Brodie. That was the Montador game.

[Heavy Jack]

Player: The trio of Gaudreau/Monahan/Hudler. Just wow.

Moment: Seeing Johnny hockey storm back with a natural hat-trick to force OT, was literally inches from winning it in OT too. No one could have predicted how huge those 2 points turned out to be amongst the 95 other points earned. Simply awesome.

Stat: Tying our road wins record. That's huge considering we will be the road team for much of what we get through in the playoffs this year.

[GioforPM]

Player: Monahan. He's a top centre in the league in his second year, at his age.

Moment: hard to top the comeback against LA - the JG trick and then Gio says "my turn" and won't be denied the OT winner.