I have lots of amazing memories from that run but here's a somewhat unique one some of you might enjoy...
I was working for the Writers Guild of Alberta at the time and the Alberta Book Awards were scheduled for Saturday April 17, 2004 in Calgary.
Months earlier, we had booked the Palliser Hotel for the ceremony but I was very disappointed because the Flames were up 3-2 in their first round series against Vancouver and in a position to clinch that same night.
I even remember trying to convince my boss that we should do a last-minute date change arguing that no one would be interested in our Gala with all media and corporate sponsorships focused on the Flames (this was probably true but selfishly, I also wanted to be able to watch the game live. Well, live on TV anyhow since tickets were pretty hard to come by, even in round one.)
Anyhow, too much work had been done to change the date at the last minute so the ceremony was a go.
I hatched a plan.
In those days before smartphones and ubiquitous Internet, I decided I could keep sneaking out of the ballroom for updates at the front desk then relay them to our MC to announce to the crowd.
There's not a huge overlap between artsy/literary types and professional sports fans but has already been pointed out in this thread, even in round one, people from all walks of life were starting to rally behind the Flames.
Except...
The Canucks went up 4-0 by the middle of the second period. So I put my plan aside, stopped sneaking out for updates and just focused on getting through the ceremony, assuming the game was over.
The awards ended after a couple hours and I went out to the lobby bar with a few coworkers, authors and others expecting to celebrate the end of a very busy day.
The big screen TV in the lounge that hadn't been there earlier should've been my first clue.
But I couldn't figure out why the Flames were still on the screen at that late point in the night. Was HNIC immediately replaying the game for some reason?
The Flames had mounted a comeback, tied the game 4-4 and were about to head to OT! The Palliser had rolled a big screen TV into their lounge so the assembled guests - including could even watch the game as it went to OT. Then double OT. And finally triple OT!
The Flames eventually lost that game but I'll always have a fond memory of the first, and perhaps only time in history, the Palliser Hotel lobby bar became a sports bar, just for one night!