CALGARY — Long before the video tribute, the stirring ovation and his emotional response, MacKenzie Weegar was welcomed back to Calgary the way he wanted: with love from his former teammates.
They did by way of a shooting gallery during warmups, firing pucks at him from every angle.
“They came right at me right away,” beamed the popular defenceman who spent four years in Calgary before agreeing to a deadline deal to Utah.
“When I was getting interviewed, they were shooting pucks at me right away. Colesy (Blake Coleman), Backs (Mikael Backlund), Matty (Coronato)… I felt like I got more blocked shots in the warm-up than I did all season.”
It says plenty when the perennial shot-blocking leader is on the receiving end of so many frozen reminders of how beloved he was in Calgary.
Still is.
That point was driven home six minutes into his first game back in Calgary Sunday, when a lengthy video tribute during the first TV timeout brought the crowd to its feet for one of the heartier welcomes from a fan base that sure seems to be getting used to them.
“It was special,” said Weegar, who removed his helmet for the moment and sure seemed to be a tad misty-eyed as he waved in appreciation.
“Obviously, a lot of emotions going through that. Some laughs too — the boys kind of triggered me a little bit. I could see them peeking their heads over behind the red line.
“Just a lot of great memories. I got some goose bumps over there, it was a great cheer. My appreciation for the fans, and their appreciation for me, never goes unnoticed.”
He too noticed the roars were just a little louder than most of the lads who’ve passed by with their new teams. After all, he heard most of them over the last handful of years.
“That's the market here — they love their hockey, they love their players, and if you just buy into the system, and you work super hard every night, and you wear that jersey with a lot of pride, they'll show it back to you here,” smiled the 32-year-old.
“So that's all I wanted to do when I was here, just wear that jersey with pride and give it all I got here. I'm glad they noticed it. And it goes both ways.”
Weegar said the love-in was similar to what he expected, minus the result — a 4-1 Mammoth loss in which he actually had a chance to flip the script early in the second when he walked in from the point and had a golden chance to beat Dustin Wolf to narrow the gap in a 2-0 game.
“I'll sleep on that one for sure,” he said of the shot that found its way into Wolf’s glove.
“I'm thinking about it right now. I could have got him in a couple different areas, but he played great tonight. I'll give him credit. It would have been a really great night if we got the two points. I really wanted to win that one.”
Wolf said playfully he loved getting a leg up on Weegar in his return to a city in which No. 52 was wildly popular with teammates and the masses.
“He had a real nice look down the middle, and… you knew he was going there,” laughed Wolf, whose squad got goals from Connor Zary, Brayden Pachal, Coronato and Backlund.
“He tries to fool me, but he needs to try a little harder.”
The win saw the Flames pass the New York Rangers for 29th in the standings — an unpopular move for most Flames fans.
For the Mammoth, who are trying to avoid playing Colorado in the first round, the loss does nothing to derail the fact that they’re heading to the playoffs for their first spring fling since moving to Utah.
“I can't wait, it's gonna be an absolute blast,” said Weegar, who assisted on Utah’s third-period goal to ruin Wolf’s shutout.
“Ultimately, I made the decision to come over here for that reason, to get an opportunity to get in the playoffs and make some noise.”
He insists that as the team bus drove past Scotia Place he resisted the urge to joke with teammates that he had a hand in making the new rink happen.
“They were kind of chirping me a little bit about that,” he smiled.
“I saw the new building getting built, and I kind of just had a little thought in my head, kind of ‘what could have been.’ But the Saddledome here has given me a lot of great memories.”
Sunday night being yet another one of them.
