2000-2003 Flames fans (Pre-2003-2004 fans), what are some fond memories you have?

[CroFlames]

My first Flames memory was the Sharks series in 1995. I couldn't grasp at the time how a 7 game series worked.


We were working class so I only got to go to a few 90s games with my friend and his dad when he got work tickets I guess. I thought a half empty dome was normal.



I remember Flames sucking just felt like normalcy. You waited for playoffs each year for the real hockey to start so you can watch the Detroits, St Louis, Torontos and Montreals of the world play the men's game.



Turek getting signed and thinking "is it our turn to make the playoffs?" Braithwaite was certainly a highlight of those years, as was Val Bure although pretty disappointed it wasn't Pavel.



I mostly remember no one, including myself, took the Flames seriously. I think that's the biggest reason why the 2004 run captured a nation since we were the little team that could.

[FlamesAddiction]

The Steve Smith own goal and Gretzky trade were my fondest memories, not including the Stanley Cup in 1989 of course.

I actually became a Flames mainly because of my hatred for the Oilers. The 1980s Oilers just seemed so entitled and pompous. I was actually growing up in Jets country at the time, but gravitated to the Flames mainly because I wanted to root for the rival of the team I hated most. I rooted for them the same way you root for the underdog in 1980s movies trying to beat the rich preppy kid. The Oilers, and Gretzky in particular, embodied that villain to me, so I relished in their rare misfortunes at the time.

And don't get me wrong, the Flames had great teams around the same time, but they always seemed to have to work harder for everything.

By the time the "young guns" era came around, I was over just simply hoping against the Oilers and was just rooting directly for the Flames. If I am being honest though, the fond memories are rare. I supposed Brathwaite emerging out of nowhere to make the team interesting. Most of the memories from then until 2003 are not great though. It was tough time to be a fan then.

[Jordan!]

The return of Mike Vernon was cool as hell and also pretty weird. I think he was sent to the AHL or something to get him to retire. Is that right?

How weird is this pic? Vernie in a blasty jersey? wut?? also brings me to another fond memory, getting Chris Drury!

[Eric Vail]

In 1980, when the Flames came to Calgary, it was so cool. Reggie Lemelin lived across the street from me and I found out because my friend's mom worked at the bank where he opened an account. We were the first kids to visit his house and he autographed my hockey stick before playing a game for the Calgary Flames. He also gave me an autographed picture that looked like this:



Later in the season, I learned Bobby MacMillan lived a few blocks away and I visited his house a few times, bringing friends along to get autographs. He was very friendly and accomodating. I was very sad when he was traded the next season.



At the end of the season, in the playoffs, after sweeping the Blackhawks in the first round, the Flames were up against the heavily favoured Philadelphia Flyers who sported names like Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber, Ken Linesman, Reggie Leach and with Pete Peters in net. The Flames were up 3-1. They lost game 5 in Philadelphia and came home for game six. Everyone thought that they had to win game six at home, that there was no way they could win game seven in Philadelphia as it was the most feared place to play in all of hockey. Well, they lost game six and went on to game seven into the belly of the beast and won 4-1! My friend down the block and I made a banner and went to the airport to great our heros! It was awesome. I got autographs from most of them. Willie Plett walked through the fans refusing to sign any. In spite of this, I still liked our goon who could score 39 goals. Here's a picture for Plett from that series:



The semi-finals saw unknown rookie Dino Ciccarelli score 14 goals and 21 playoff points and discarded the Flames. They just didn't have enough fight left in them after beating the Flyers. The next year, when the Flames were struggling, I called into John Henderson's hockey talk radio show and said the Flames should trade Nilsson for Ciccarelli. He scoffed at such an idea. History proved I was right - even being just a kid. Though our eventual Nilsson trade turned out ok.


The 80s were awesome. The Flames were bad for a couple years, but then Bob Johnson was hired and it all turned around. The Flames were the first to scout and sign college free agents and wound up with guys like Jamie Mccoun, Eddy Beers and Joel Otto. They drafted exceptionally well. After being hammered by Edmonton and hearing how great the Oilers were year after year, we stood up and knocked them out in 1986. Many of the Hockey Night in Canada crew hated the Flames for it. Howie Meeker was probably the most biased in his love for the Oilers and hatred for the Flames. 1987 and 1988 were great regular seasons with very disappointing playoffs. 1989 we finally did it and it was a tremendous relief.



Since 1989, it has mostly been downhill, with a few blips. 2004 was awesome. Today team shows some promise and is actually a contender, which we haven't seen many times since 1989. It is nothing like the 1980s where passion was such a big part of hockey. Now it is systems and rivals train with each other in the off-season and it is not near as fun. Systems might be better and the players are in better shape, but it doesn't replace the passion we saw. The Flames players hated the Oilers more than the fans did. I don't think that is true today.

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Ed never did radio.

Bart Daley (iirc) did the first year and the Peter took over.....for 33 years.


Eddie sure did TV though...."Helllo hockey fans" and used to drive me nuts with his "puck goes over top the net"...he would ALWAYS leave out the word "of".

That was at a time when we would get maybe 40 games a year on TV but also how i discovered satellite systems and all the free content one could possibly watch. Good old days for sure.

Really? Wow, I guess my childhood memories are mixed up. I felt I had such clear memories of listening to his voice on the radio in the car in the midst of dark, snowy winter. I feel almost as though I can hear it still.

[robertsfan]

Originally Posted by Hanna Sniper

- Watching the weather Network for the Flames vs Chicago series (Iggy's first) because they rolled over the scores every 15 minutes.

Oh yah; that was my 90's experience for the most part being in the US with only basic cable. I would flip between the Headline News channel and ESPN Sportcenter to catch the score of the Flames game on the ticker. We only had 1 TV and my dad would get pissed at me.

I also remember being really excited about Chris Dingman, Marty Murray and Dave Ling after reading about them in The Hockey News.

Finally, again, reading The Hockey News every week during the '95-'96 season, looking at the back pages at the WHL stats and wishing the Flames somehow had Hnat Domenichelli instead of Jarome Iginla because Hnat had more points in Kamloops. Also during those times thinking Paxton Schulte was going to be a stud after reading his stats week after week.

ESPN2 was scrambled unless you paid extra - so I watched the scrambled poltergeist version of the Flames vs. Whalers game in '96 (Gary Roberts first comeback game).

Watching a Jarome Iginla fight for the first time (96 against the Sharks Chris Tancil).

I also used to think back then for a short time that Kamloops was "Kaloomps" until I heard the name pronounced.

[corporatejay]

$9 nosebleeds and going with my hockey teams when I was older (without parents) and always being able to move into the 200s.

The Anaheim/Calgary brawl.

[boogerz]

Technically it was in 97-98, but Todd Simpson put the puck on a string during the pylon relay thingy at the skills comp and still managed to lose control of it...lol

Then the following season when the Flames went through a million goalies, I did a double take seeing two black goalies at the skills comp (Tyrone Garner and Freddy). That was pretty cool

[Sled]

[Snuffleupagus]

Lanny McDonald taking a run at Gretzky for the goal scoring lead in 82-83 was a lot of fun to follow. I think it actually sparked the owners to invest in the team to compete with the goofs up north and I'm positive it helped build our fan base.

[Huntingwhale]

Iggy's 50 goals Art Ross season. I used to wake up before school, grab the Calgary Herald paper, then go sit on the heating vent and look at the scoring race. Couldn't believe that a Flames' player was leading the charge. I remember hoping and praying by some miracle that Iggy would stay #1.

Also remember Iggy being selected for Team Canada at the '02 Olympics when someone got injured. Then seeing how dominant he was in the final gold medal game. Couldn't believe how amazing his line with Sakic and Gagne was. Wonderful memory.

I also remember how no one gave a #### about the Flames. The big playoff-less years spanned my entire Jr High and High school years. I don't remember talking about hockey with anybody other than a single friend who had a Fleury poster on his wall. I wasn't aware of CP at the time so I'm almost certain he was the only friend I had who talked hockey with me. Obviously that all changed in '04, but prior to that I felt like a lone wolf in my social circle when it came to hockey.

[Sandman]

During the 98-99 season, I bought tickets to see the Flames take on Dallas-for me and my Sister-in-law, who was a huge Modano/Stars fan and was constantly rubbing the Flames losing ways in my face. I wasn't looking forward to it too much, because they had resorted to signing a minor-leaguer by the name of Fred Brathwaite to start the game-the 8th goalie we had used that year due to injuries.

Midway through the first, who else but Mike Modano gets a breakaway from his own blueline, streaks over the center line, and little Freddy comes streaking out of his net to poke-check him just inside the Flames zone. The 'dome went absolutely crazy! For the rest of the game we all chanted "Freddy! Freddy!", while my Sister-in-Law sat in silence.
We ended up winning 1-0-I couldn't even tell you who scored for us.

To this day, I still tease my Sister-in-Law about that game.

I was also at the game where the streaker incident occured....

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Sandman

During the 98-99 season, I bought tickets to see the Flames take on Dallas-for me and my Sister-in-law, who was a huge Modano/Stars fan and was constantly rubbing the Flames losing ways in my face. I wasn't looking forward to it too much, because they had resorted to signing a minor-leaguer by the name of Fred Brathwaite to start the game-the 8th goalie we had used that year due to injuries.

Midway through the first, who else but Mike Modano gets a breakaway from his own blueline, streaks over the center line, and little Freddy comes streaking out of his net to poke-check him just inside the Flames zone. The 'dome went absolutely crazy! For the rest of the game we all chanted "Freddy! Freddy!", while my Sister-in-Law sat in silence.
We ended up winning 1-0-I couldn't even tell you who scored for us.

To this day, I still tease my Sister-in-Law about that game.

I was also at the game where the streaker incident occured....

Remember that game well for some reason...it was Jeff Shantz that got the tally.

Here ya go.

https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/dal-v...me_state=final

[CalgaryFan1988]

I grew up watching Fleury, when he came into the league I was 12. So, as many games as I could see live in Ottawa and Montreal I would go watch him play.

I remember one of the first times I saw him live, in practice he would saucer pass the puck to his teammates and they would come down right on their blade, with minimal time on the ice. I thought that was just incredible, because it was really the first time I saw that with such precision.

[Sylvanfan]

I remember how easy it was to get tickets, and they didn't cost that much. Second game of the 03 season was on a Tuesday night against the Oilers, and it was the 20th anniversary of the Saddle Dome. I think the game had a later start time like 8:00. I was living in Sylvan Lake at the time and My wife was going to college in Red Deer so she wasn't home yet. I was out doing some stuff in my front yard and another guy from work who lived two doors down from me comes out at 5:30 and says why don't we go to the Battle of Alberta tonight. So we go and look up tickets and find that we can get $50 seats still, so we reserve those and drive down to Calgary to go to the game. The game itself was far from a classic, but the Flames won 1-0 that night. Jamie McLennan got the shut out, and I think it was Blair Betts who scored some odd ball goal. It was my first ever battle of Alberta and as a fan of the team who has never lived in Calgary I really did not go to many games. I think I was at a game in 1987, and never saw another Flames game until 2001 which was the second game of the year against Chicago a 4-0 win. So being able to go to a Flames game after living so far away for most of my life was a real novelty.

[Boblobla]

Tickets were unbelievably easy to come by. I was in university at that time and they would just give them away to students, probably because we would go to the games and get homeless person drunk on dome beer. I would go to 15 or 20 games a year, it was nuts. It helped that I knew the Kokanee (I think) rep at the university, always had free tickets.

If memory serves, the nose bleeds were not even open during that time.

[SilverKast]

Electric Ave when we won the cup in 89! I was only 18 so it was a great time back then.

Still waiting on a repeat of that. Red Mile run was the next best thing without actually winning. Was super disappointed to be at that game 6 - hoping for another cup win as it was my birthday.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

My first two games at the dome were back in the early 90s. I think it was a 4-4 tie against Detroit and a 5-2 loss to the Kings.

I have two memories. Sitting on my grandpa's lap in the 300s because the sight lines were so terrible with those stupid railings blocking the view (still there depending on where you sit) and the fact that everyone was chain smoking the entire game.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Others have mentioned these, but 2 things stick out:

1) It wasn't cool to like the Flames. None of my friends at school liked them and kids would cheer for teams like Detroit or Colorado.
Was kind of like modern day basketball where so many people just follow random top teams and change their team all the time.

2) Going to the dome on a whim and getting $15-$20 tickets right before puck drop for random games was so easy. I don't think we ever had tickets planned out days in advance.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Tickets were unbelievably easy to come by. I was in university at that time and they would just give them away to students, probably because we would go to the games and get homeless person drunk on dome beer. I would go to 15 or 20 games a year, it was nuts. It helped that I knew the Kokanee (I think) rep at the university, always had free tickets.

If memory serves, the nose bleeds were not even open during that time.

I recall the first time I went to Calgary to see the Flames live. I think it was 1997. I purchased tickets in the nosebleeds and about 10 minutes into the 1st period, an usher came and asked us if we wanted to move down to better seats. I assume it was to fill out the lower bowl so it looked better on TV.