In a previous life I spent my life juggling flights between Calgary and Edmonton (with a trip or two to Winnipeg and Vancouver thrown in for good measure). On any given Wednesday it was a treat to watch Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson and the gang. Thursday meant that the same team that lost in Edmonton traipsed down Highway 2 to be beaten by the Flames, led by Paul Reinhart, Kent Nilsson, Willi Plett, Al MacInnis and Jim Peplinski.
A few years later it was Craig Simpson, Adam Graves, Marty McSorley and Esa Tikkanen up north, and the likes of Hakan Loob, Gary Roberts, Joe Nieuwendyk and Doug Gilmour in the south.
Playing in Wild Rose Country was pure horror for most teams.
We use to dub those road trips as being “Ambushed on the Alberta Trail.” The Flames had great teams, no doubt about it. But there was only one problem; they weren’t as good as the teams in Edmonton. Even when the Flames were on a roll, we joked that they were still the “second best team in Alberta.”
No matter which coaches were behind the bench -- Glen Sather, John Muckler, Al MacNeil, Bob Johnson or Terry Crisp -- Alberta was a graveyard for visiting teams. For most of the 1980s the best teams in the NHL lived in Alberta. And what was most important, every game between the two teams was truly as fierce as any game in the league.
Oh sure, there was the Battle of Quebec, and those Flyers/Rangers games, but nothing compared to Calgary versus Edmonton. The true measure of that was the fact that every year from1983 to 1989, one of those two teams played in the Stanley Cup championship. Anybody who still doesn’t agree just has to look at the six Stanley Cups won in seven seasons to be convinced.
The point of all this is that we might just be on the verge of a return of the Battle of Alberta. Not that they are the two best teams in the league, but rather they are both competitive. Rivalries don’t survive if one team is much better than the other. Over the past 10 years, the teams have not really been at the same level, with the Flames probably holding the edge. But this year, with two former Flames leading Edmonton (Steve Tambellini and original Atlanta Flame Pat Quinn) and the province’s First Family of hockey driving the bus in Calgary (Darryl and Brent Sutter) we have a chance to witness a return of the Battle of Alberta.
It’s interesting to note that both teams changed their coaches this summer, and claim that it will take time for the players to buy in to new systems. But after the first three games of this series, it appears they have already bought into the rivalry. That can only mean that fans in both cities will turn up the heat once more.
And for the other teams in the NHL? That can only mean coming west to face the Flames and the Oilers just might be another ambush on the Alberta trail.
