A friend of mines kid is from the High River/Blackie Team, was such a great experience they treated the kids and families like Royalty!
Everyone was so proud and almost in tears during the whole time, these kids will never forget that experience for their entire lives and I know at least one of them who thinks he's got what it takes to get to the big leagues now... lol !
There is definitely something special going on in Calgary right now with the group of people both working and playing for the Flames.
__________________ "In brightest day, in blackest night / No evil shall escape my sight / Let those who worship evil's might / Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"
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Any of the kids drop the gloves? Because when I was that age, and there was little chance that I would get on the score sheet because I kinda sucked, I'd be droppin the gloves with someone.
Any of the kids drop the gloves? Because when I was that age, and there was little chance that I would get on the score sheet because I kinda sucked, I'd be droppin the gloves with someone.
i absolutely LOVE the flames for stuff like this - and the awesome thing is that this is just the way the organization operates. they'll go above and beyond for their fans and it's fantastic!
i shared this a few years ago, but it deserves to be reposted.....
this in an email i got from a friend in calgary back in 2011
Quote:
Hey Chris
I got some great news from the Flames today. My daughter , who is turning 3 in Aug, is a huge Flames fan (she didnt stand much of a chance with me as her dad). She loves Harvey the Hound. Ive taken her to 4 or 5 games now, and its all about Harvey. She tells people her 3 favorite flames are Kipper, Iggy and Harvey!!
Anyways, long story short, my son was born 3 months premature last summer. He was 3 lbs. He spent 2 months in the hospital. People always asked how big he was....trying to give a measurement as if I was showing off a fish I caught made it tough for people to understand how small he was. So we bought a stuffed Harvey doll. Harvey was 18 inches long. That was our new measuring stick. So we took pics of Maddox with Harvey at 2 weeks old, 4 weeks old etc. People could now gauge better how big he was, and how he was growing.
Emersyn (my daughter) was not allowed in the NICU, so she never got to meet her new bro until 2 months after his birth. My wife and I took shifts throughout each day to be with him.....but Emersyn was pretty smart, and realized that we weren't at the hospital 24/7. She asked 'who takes care of Maddox when you guys aren't there?'
We told her the nurses do, with help from Harvey the Hound. We showed her pics of Harvey with Maddox....she thought this was awesome!!! So she loved Harvey even more.
This past season, she was 2, we were at a Red Wing game in my seats. She told me all day that she wanted to go meet Harvey and say thank you for taking care of Maddox. I was thinking 'yeah right, once you see how big he is in real life, you wont want to go near him'. lone behold, we get to the game....flames are up 5-1, im happy, she is happy, and we see Harvey in the section below us. She looks at me and says 'daddy, can we go meet Harvey now?'
Lets go!!!
so we head down just as he is walking back towards the concourse level......nobody in between us. Just Harvey, his admin girl that follows him, and us. She RUNS, no....she SPRINTS towards him....i think she caught him off guard. She latched onto his leg and said 'Thanks for
taking care of Maddox' I'm sure Harvey was thinking WTF!! I asked Harvey for a photo, he scooped her up, and took a great picture. He really made her day.
For the weeks after, everything revolved around Harvey.
fastforward to last month. My wife was starting to think about her bday in Aug. keep in mind, the Det game was in Jan. We asked her what type of party she wanted this year. She is turning 3. Dora? My Little Pony? Care Bears? NOPE!!!! word for word, this is what she said. "I want a Harvey birthday mom......then Maddox can see Harvey again.''
I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, high five her........but I was pumped!!!
I tried to email Harvey (there is a link on the Flames website.) no luck. tried again, no luck. Finally I wrote a email similar to this one to my season ticket account rep. She immediately emailed me back to say she would see what she could do. Today I got a email from Ken King. He said my email was one of the most touching emails they ever received. Not only will Harvey be at Emersyns birthday, they will waive his appearance fee ($200).....and, they will bring autographed Flames stuff for all the kids!!!!
Not sure who was more pumped, me or Emersyn. Needless to say, if your in Calgary in Aug, you need to come by!! If not, I will take tonnes of pics and send some to ya!
Lets see the Canucks pull off public relations like that!
and a couple pics from the festivities....
__________________ "...and there goes Finger up the middle on Luongo!" - Jim Hughson, Av's vs. 'Nucks
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That is awesome. We looked into the Big League experience as a fund raiser for my son's team. It sounded so much fun but the cost was out of our price range. So glad these kids got to do it.
That is awesome. We looked into the Big League experience as a fund raiser for my son's team. It sounded so much fun but the cost was out of our price range. So glad these kids got to do it.
I was fortunate to do this when I was younger. It wasn't quite this done up but we got to play at the dome and have our names announced. We also had video after the game. Their is some old dusty DVD somewhere of me scoring and my name being announced over the Saddledome. It was pretty cool, and definitely an awesome experience for younger folks. Not nearly as awesome as this one, as no players, coaches, or merchandise was present.
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In that moment the Flames created a new base of young Flames fans. It's why i've always had great respect for the Flames and how they do things.
The team up north could learn a few things but I doubt Lowe and company could get past those 6 rings they talk about all the time. Taking care of the fan base is a forgien concept up in Edmonton.
Gio and Monahan, current captain and future captain.
I don't know if the leadership group could be any better for a rebuild then what we got right now. Hell of a group to learn what it takes to be an NHL player.
I especially like how they didn't bother going into excuses for why he didn't show up. Just simply said, he screwed up and was a no-show. Full accountability.
That's the first step to making things right, and a pretty good sign that this was done for the right reasons.
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