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Originally Posted by nieuwy-89
Yeah I caught that too and it pisses me off. The Coach sets the culture for the team, and in casually accepting this loss (and yet another blown lead) GG is basically telling the fans and players that it was not an important game. If rivalry games / big games are meaningless, this team will never get out of the first round.
I try not to do this, but I always compare with my own experiences coaching minor hockey. We really emphasize “big games” and the need to beat your rivals in order to set the tone/ culture for the team, and be able to prepare for elimination games in tournaments & playoffs.
But maybe that’s why I’m a Peewee coach and not an NHL coach.
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There hasn’t been a true Battle of Alberta for over a couple decades. Technically sure these teams have played, and the media will try and sensationalize, but one or both teams have been crap for the entire time. Playoffs in 2006 if Calgary got past Anaheim may have approached that, but the true battle of Alberta’s are gone in the sense of all out hatred on the ice (or the field) due to the nature of the game.
That doesn’t mean that those of us who are near or over 40 and from Calgary don’t remember what it used to be like to hate the Oilers and Edmonton as an extension, and want to beat them every single time and hope that the Oilers or Esks lose every single game to other teams.
For GG to pass this off as another game against a “good team” is insulting to certain section of Calgary and Flames fans who went through those years and beating the Oilers is mandatory, or else.
Maybe he and certain players should take to YouTube over this break and check out some 80s and early 90s highlights BOA highlights.
Get some press clippings of the banter between the two teams and papers and how much this is and was a hated rivalry, as writers traded insults in the paper, and non PC (now)jokes were flying between the 4 papers.
Bring in Mike Bullard to talk about the criminal spear he took from McSorely in the 88 Playoffs.
Ask Steve Konroyd about the knee he took from Semenko when engaged in a fight.
Ask Risebrough about shredding a jersey in a penalty box.
Ask Nattress about the blatant elbow head shot he took from Messier, and then chirped by the Oilers bench as he stumbles around trying to get off.
Ask Guy Lapoine about the beer poured on his head on the bench in Northlands.
Bring in Sheehy and Baxter and Peplinski to talk about the dirty trick and eye gouges McLelland, Hunter and other pieces of crap on those teams pulled in scrums and in fights.
Ask fans who travelled up there, many from CP, in the dark days of the late 90s and early 2000s on the treatment by the fans, arena staff, security and police, as if Flames fans were all on parole and were guilty before proven the chance to be proven innocent.
Maybe after a bit of a lesson he wouldn’t be so dismissive of the rivalry and the putrid results he’s prepared and got out of his teams under his direction against Edmonton. Being the only Flames head coach in the franchise history to have yet to beat the Oilers and have the longest losing streak to that team in the 200+ times these teams have played is embarrassing to the fanbase and an outright failure.
