20 years ago today... the Saint John Flames win the Calder Cup.
It was the last professional hockey championship won by the Flames' organization, and the last time an AHL team in the Maritimes brought the Cup home. May 28, 2001.
The full video of the decisive Game 6 can be found here.
I had the opportunity to speak to the man on the call, Andy Campbell, for a half-hour in advance of this anniversary. He shared some great stories about the people on that team and his experience becoming a part of the organization.
After the initial road trip to Virginia, during which Campbell called a Flames goal, scored by Betts, for the first time, the team returned home for Campbell’s first visit as Flames commentator. During that respite in Saint John, Campbell met rookie defenseman Steve Montador during a community outreach visit to the nearby town of Saint Andrews, N.B.
“On the way back on the bus, I sat next to Steve Montador, who, at the time, was getting very little ice-time. Never drafted in the [Ontario Hockey League], never drafted in the NHL, working hard to find a spot on the Flames,” said Campbell. “He and I started talking and found out there were some circles that connected in our lives.”
Montador eventually made the NHL on a full-time basis with Calgary in 2002–03. Most notably, he scored the overtime winner in the Flames’ Game 1 win over the San Jose Sharks in the 2004 Western Conference Final.
He ultimately played 571 NHL games while spending time in Calgary, Florida, Anaheim, Boston, Buffalo, and Chicago. In 2015, Montador died suddenly at the age of 35; a posthumous examination of his brain showed he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
“I think we spent the entire trip back talking. Monty was a pretty close guy to me through all that time,” Campbell added. He also noted Montador eventually became close with his brother, Jamie Campbell, who currently hosts Blue Jays Central on Sportsnet. “Our relationship continued in the second season. I think of Steve a lot and what he went through and, ultimately, the tragic end of his life.”
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He also singled out backup goaltender Levente Szuper, who joined Saint John that season directly out of the OHL, as somebody with whom he remains in correspondence.
“I have a niece who’s going away to school in Hungary coming up in September. Levente Szuper and I still keep in touch, he lives in Budapest, so he’s doing some groundwork, possibly, for us in terms of looking for a place for my niece to live,” said Campbell. “[Szuper] never really caught on at the NHL level, never really caught on with Calgary, and went and played in Europe.
“I had given him the nickname ‘The Backstop from Budapest’ and that kind of followed him around Europe, too,” Campbell added. “He and I were Facebook messaging just the other day and it came up and I was like, ‘Man, I just pulled that out of thin air.'”
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“The focus and determination of everyone from Jim right through to the training staff, myself—I pushed myself to be as good as they were on the ice,” said Campbell. “I pushed myself to be as good as I could be on the microphone. That just kind of rippled through the organization and I think that was what pushed that team to accomplish what it was able to accomplish.
“Nobody expected that of that team that year,” Campbell added. “It’s a tremendous moment. Having stayed in New Brunswick since that day, people still talk about that time. I can’t go to Saint John and somebody doesn’t say, ‘Man, those Flames, that was a team.’ I wear that ring every day.”
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Of note... This article never would have been written had CP poster Flamesguy_SJ not told me Andy Campbell, with whom I previously worked on a UNB story in his current capacity as media coordinator for the UNB Reds, was also on the call on May 28, 2001.
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What a great team and a great night that was. I was fortunate to be about the same age as all the guys and Varlamov lived downstairs from us and became a good friend.
We partied like rockstars that night. Just a great group of guys.
Tomorrow is actually also the 10th anniversary of the Saint John Sea Dogs winning the Memorial Cup.
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Some players I have fond memories of on that team.
Always loved Steve Begin.
Montador was a huge part of the 03-04 run.
I still have a Blair Betts PG jersey. He'd go on to have a nice little career as a 4th line centerman in NY and Philly.
Daniel Tkaczuk..what could've been had he not had that concussion.
__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
It was the last professional hockey championship won by the Flames' organization, and the last time an AHL team in the Maritimes brought the Cup home. May 28, 2001.
The full video of the decisive Game 6 can be found here.
I had the opportunity to speak to the man on the call, Andy Campbell, for a half-hour in advance of this anniversary. He shared some great stories about the people on that team and his experience becoming a part of the organization.
Of note... This article never would have been written had CP poster FlamesFan_SJ not told me Andy Campbell, with whom I previously worked on a UNB story in his current capacity as media coordinator for the UNB Reds, was also on the call on May 28, 2001.
I was a season ticket holder from 1999 (at the tender age of 11) through to when the team left in 2003. Used to mow lawns at my church through the summer to pay for the tickets.
The year they went to the finals, we got a schedule printed out with our season tickets. I taped it to the inside of my desk at school and crossed out each game and marked whether they won, lost, or tied. I moved recently and found it, which was pretty cool.
Also, since you mentioned Szuper, I caught a game puck that same year. You could turn it in at customer service and they'd get it signed by a player and ship it to you at home, and I was SO torn on whose autograph I wanted: Chris Clark or Levente Szuper. Up until VERY recently, the world's only Levente Szuper signed puck kept me company on my desk at work.
That team, and that 2001 run, made a huge impression on me. It's basically what led me to become a true Calgary Flames fan after the team left SJ - it certainly didn't hurt that the 2004 Finals had a ton of SJ representation between both squads (Stillman, St. Louis, and Dingman all played in SJ).
I posted these on Twitter, but here's a couple of my most cherished items from that season: lithograph of Marty Murray on Parade Day, the aforementioned printed schedule, the official team photo with the Calder Cup, a t-shirt I caught at intermission and got the team to sign over the course of the year.
Spoiler!
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Living near Hartford at the time and caught this squad playing the Wolf Pack a few times that season. I remember following this run through the 'Other scores' in the Hartford Courant--not sure the AHL had a comprehensive website back then? Or maybe I just never used the internet (I was 13 during this run).
A few things:
1. Man, Marty Murray seemed to be in our system forever. I used to confuse him with a guy we had for a minute named Michael Murray--no relation but both played for Saint John between 95 and 97.
2. This 2001 squad was tough! I forgot we had Doug Doull who went on to have a cup of coffee in 2004 with Boston. He really had zero business being in the NHL but that era before the lockout was a weird one for enforcers. Also had Dave Roche who was a sneaky good tough guy. Didn't he knock out Probert when he played for Pittsburgh?
2a. Speaking of tough guys and sign o the times. The Wilkes-Barre roster was stacked: Denis Bonvie, Darcy Verot, Billy Tibbetts, Trent Cull, Jason MacDonald--wow.
3. I have zero memory of Derrick Walser and Darrel Scoville. Both these guys were young and looked like they played top D minutes. Were they ever considered top prospects? They both went on to play for Columbus a few seasons later.
4. There is a blog that follows backup goalies (drawing a blank on the URL) and there is a post that discusses guys who were called up and only 'dressed' as a backup and Levente Szuper is featured. There is also a picture of him floating around sitting on the CGY bench. Again, surprised in all those early 2000 years of CGY mediocracy, that he he never got a game in.
5. Does anyone know of any online resources where you can find detailed vintage AHL boxscores? I bet if you dug deep on internet archive you could probably find something. It's a shame that these are probably lost forever. I wonder if the AHL HQ has something like that--would be cool to dig through those. This is probably a needle in a haystack question.
Living near Hartford at the time and caught this squad playing the Wolf Pack a few times that season. I remember following this run through the 'Other scores' in the Hartford Courant--not sure the AHL had a comprehensive website back then? Or maybe I just never used the internet (I was 13 during this run).
A few things:
1. Man, Marty Murray seemed to be in our system forever. I used to confuse him with a guy we had for a minute named Michael Murray--no relation but both played for Saint John between 95 and 97.
2. This 2001 squad was tough! I forgot we had Doug Doull who went on to have a cup of coffee in 2004 with Boston. He really had zero business being in the NHL but that era before the lockout was a weird one for enforcers. Also had Dave Roche who was a sneaky good tough guy. Didn't he knock out Probert when he played for Pittsburgh?
2a. Speaking of tough guys and sign o the times. The Wilkes-Barre roster was stacked: Denis Bonvie, Darcy Verot, Billy Tibbetts, Trent Cull, Jason MacDonald--wow.
3. I have zero memory of Derrick Walser and Darrel Scoville. Both these guys were young and looked like they played top D minutes. Were they ever considered top prospects? They both went on to play for Columbus a few seasons later.
4. There is a blog that follows backup goalies (drawing a blank on the URL) and there is a post that discusses guys who were called up and only 'dressed' as a backup and Levente Szuper is featured. There is also a picture of him floating around sitting on the CGY bench. Again, surprised in all those early 2000 years of CGY mediocracy, that he he never got a game in.
5. Does anyone know of any online resources where you can find detailed vintage AHL boxscores? I bet if you dug deep on internet archive you could probably find something. It's a shame that these are probably lost forever. I wonder if the AHL HQ has something like that--would be cool to dig through those. This is probably a needle in a haystack question.
1. I believe Marty Murray actually had a couple of separate stints with the Flames. He was on that 1997-98 SJ team that went to the finals against the Phantoms. When he and Michael Murray played on the team together, they had Ma. Murray and Mi. Murray on the backs of their jerseys to tell them apart.
2. I wanted Roche to break the franchise single-season goal scoring record so bad! He came pretty close - 32 vs 35 (Cory Stillman in the first season in Saint John). I think he played on the top line with Murray & Varlamov.
2a. Billy Tibbetts could only play the games in Pennsylvania because he had a previous statutory rape conviction and couldn't cross the border. From his Wiki:
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In 1994, Tibbetts plead guilty to statutory rape, based on a 1992 interaction between a 17-year-old Tibbetts and a 15-year-old girl.[1] His sentence was suspended for 42 months.
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As a result of the convictions, Tibbetts had to register as a sex offender and could not play games in Canada.[5]
Woof.
3. If memory serves, they were the top pair that year. I feel like they were both pretty small for defenders. Even though he might have been young at the time, Scoville always struck me as an old player.
4. Szuper was great. The other goalie that year (Brochu) came in from a stacked Portland Pirates team the year before and never really impressed me much, until the playoffs - had a shutout in the first game of each of the first three series, and the last game of the final.
5. Your best bet is honestly a local library, or your newspaper if they have an archive available.
20 years ago today... the Saint John Flames win the Calder Cup.
