Someday: My Calgary Flames Fan Journey
all right story time So who am I anyway i’ve been posting these videos as of the time recording this for about two weeks now And as you can tell probably hopefully I’m very passionate about hockey and I always have been But as you’ve all already probably surmised from the wheelchair I have never played So what business do I have just talking about this team and about hockey like my opinion carries sort of weight Well in a traditional sense not much But you see that’s the magic of the time that we live in Anybody can get in front of a camera or a microphone and share their opinions to the world about whatever they feel like doing but at the same time you’re probably curious So today we’re going to talk about how we got here How I went from a spellbound six-year-old child to a 31-year-old man with a job and future career prospects who in his downtime puts on a hockey jersey and talks about the Calgary Flames in the NHL Are you ready i’m not sure I’m ready but it’s going to happen So here we go I’ve always always been in love with this game My first memories of hockey go back to when the last ephemera for the Olympics were still up on Olympic way when you were driving to the saddle dome I was born as the glory days were ending in 1993 We were still a couple years away from Theo leaving and a few years away from trading Joe Newandike for some guy named Jerome McInla who was pretty good at this whole hockey thing But I was born into a time when there wasn’t a lot to look forward to on the hockey front in Calgary The last of our blown chances in 1994 happened when I was still young too young to even perceive them I have no memories of the glory days My first Calgary Flames memories filled with Crazy Bread and Little Caesar’s Pizza back when they were a major concession tenant at the Saddle Dome happened in a time when the arena was half full and my parents and I could decide on a game day that we just felt like going to the saddle dome and we could sit wherever we felt like Back then even though I still had cerebral pausy and couldn’t walk I was small enough that my folks were strong enough to carry me up and down the mountainous stairs at the saddle dome to a place where we could sit in the lower bowl which was half empty and I could look up and see the banners from the 80s and wonder why R never really seemed to win When I went to game I was mesmerized by those banners from day one I would point up at them and be like “Man we were a really great team.” I would bug my dad with questions about the history of the team and why there weren’t any new banners and why so many people didn’t come to the games cuz I always had so much fun at the games even though the team sucked And so I entered a phase where as much as I loved the Flames and they were my favorite team I would cheer for basically whoever was winning when I was a little kid And I got pulled in really for the first time at 8 years old when the 2001 Colorado Avalanche were going on their famous run with Raybark And that’s because my dad even though he grew up in Montreal and he’s probably seeing this video So hey dad Hey mom I hate all my relatives who are probably watching this cuz I’m going to push it out a lot My dad was a big Boston Bruins fan and he loved and still loves Ray Bour for a long time There was a picture of Ray Bourc up in my parents’ bedroom and then in our basement I’m not sure where that picture is now but when I get into a bigger place maybe I can convince my dad to have it up on the wall behind me with the setters here Cuz that first season really captivated by a playoff run when I was eight I connected with that Avalanche team because my dad connected with Ray Bour so much and that old Gary Thornne call which we didn’t get up in Canada but now I’ve heard a million times cuz it’s up there with the most famous calls of all time of after 22 years Ravenport dream has come That call is one of my favorite early hockey connections cuz I went absolutely crazy for that Avalanche team But that probably is the first year that got me thinking about someday and we’re gonna talk about someday a lot because that was the first year I felt like why can’t my team do that why is my team always missing the playoffs why are they always the bottom of the standing and then from 2002 to 2004 we had arguably the best player in the world in Jerome McGin He was winning Rocket Rashards He should have won hard trophies I don’t know why Jose Theodore won that team as with so many around my age in their late 20s or early 30s or a little bit older than that That really solidified even more than it already had because the Saddle Dome was my local arena and we went to games every once in a while that run that team that wasn’t supposed to do anything and made the playoffs out of nowhere with a bunch of people that everybody had considered as overachieving and who had been a third string goalie turning into arguably the best goalie in the world in Mik Kippersoft And I would go to bed listening to the team 960 cuz I grew up back before Rogers owned basically 80% of the sports landscape and the team was in relatively independent sports station and I would listen to Rob Kerr every day after school cuz he was doing what Steinberg does now And I would listen to Peter Maher on the radio every game And every game I would get more excited cuz maybe maybe this was the time that it would actually happen that we would actually make it to where everybody else seemed to go And I remember this was back in the one or two seasons of Flames pay-per-view in that run where we were finishing the season against Phoenix and Anaheim And the Anaheim game the last game of the year was the there was a chance that that was going to be where we clinched a playoff spot And I begged and pleaded with mom and dad enough that if that were a clinching scenario they would order that Anaheim Ducks pay-per-view game As it turned out we got the first Yeah baby I could remember the game before that when we beat the Phoenix Coyotes one to nothing and clinched a playoff spot for the first time in seven years And I I was absolutely over the moon I I had the belief of a child I was like “We’re here.” I didn’t even care that Vancouver had won the division because when you make it there when you make it to the point where anybody can win everybody gets a clean slate in the playoffs And that moment I saw with Ray Bark only three years earlier could happen with my team I I thought they would could do it and my goodness they actually proved me right That 2004 Flames team beat three division winners before ultimately officially losing that Stanley Cup to the Tampa Bay Lightning But all being it was in her till I die because I was at that game and I I’ll be honest with you nobody really nobody at the game was talking about it until after except for the fact that I was sitting in 103 104 in the wheelchair section at that point and I could see everybody body on the 218 attacking and sort of jump up for a second like maybe we had scored and there was sort of a murmur over there but because Jelly didn’t actually like celebrate or anything nobody really paid it much mind plus the game was going to overtime anyway and then of course Martan St Louie scores in double overtime of that game and none of us can really believe it And then 2 days later we end up falling just shy After everything after the eliminator after the shift after all these famous moments after Peter Mars three babies against the Detroit Red Wings it all went for not And then my imagination captured Of course the next year is the lockout And I spend my days listening to 960 talking about labor negotiations that I didn’t understand All I knew that is that it meant until some kind of contract was signed there weren’t going to be any games And I now know that if that season had happened maybe capitalizing on the momentum from the previous season maybe the Flames have another shot at someday But as it turns out we all watched that press conference of Gary cancelling the season and he had every right to As I said in my defense of Gary video the league needed a salary cap And I didn’t understand why as a kid I do know because I don’t think the team would be around today if the game had continued in the economic state it was But that’s not why we’re here today So post lockout Of course we don’t have a lot of playoff success but I get a few more chances to experience playoff games at the dome And there’s nothing like playoff games at the Saddle Dome I miss them every year They don’t happen another guy who’s subscriber one for this channel and who’s been the best friend since we were 12 years old and that 2004 run was happening Every year I tell him how much I miss it when we don’t make the playoffs because there’s nothing like it and it lights me up every time sitting in the stands There’s an electricity that nothing else except maybe the semifinal of the 2012 World Juniors against Russia which I also had the privilege of going to will ever match that in my mind When things are good that building is the heartbeat of the city There’s a lot of cynicism right now about the team being stuck in the mud and people just being okay with mediocrity It’s not that we’re okay with mediocrity It’s that we want something to believe in We want that feeling back And I understand that wanting that feeling even for just a little bit can come across to some people as shortsighted but it’s cuz anything can have So anyway that mid 2000s to early 2010s period there’s not a lot of success but I still have memories like that massive Cory Sarah hit against San Jose and other playoff memories and disappointments This was the time when we started not being able to beat the Ducks Boy boy did I start hating that Anaheim team And I know a lot of you did So we get to about 2010 and I’m in high school And of course we all remember in 2010 the uh the magic that happened with the Golden Go And I actually watched that game from a model UN conference at the university cuz I in addition to being a hockey nerd I’m also a nerd for politics and history I remember jumping up metaphorically with about 200 other people my age and having another one of those magical moments And there were a lot of them in those two weeks Actually I spent a few of those Vancouver 2010 days playing sick from school and watching all the events with my dad Dad’s going to come up a few times in this story And yeah he’s been a big part of my hockey fandom even though he’s he wouldn’t necessarily call himself a Flames fan I would argue that my dad’s a bit more casual than I am He he’ll freely admit this And even though Boston’s his primary team I would argue he’s in the past several years become more of a Flames fan because of how I bleed for this I do And I I cried a bit when we traded Iggy in the next few years And it was starting to feel like the days in the ‘9s there Although we were making the playoffs fairly regularly up until 2009 there was another drought another drought of six years between 2009 and 50 And then the next team captured my imagination those find away flames with a young Johnny rest his soul and Matt Stagen and David Jones another team that wasn’t supposed to do anything and had a couple of bright stars and Sam Bennett My goodness if we could have made that work Sam And that was a year where I actually for the first time didn’t live in Calgary during a playoff run I lived with that buddy I talked about earlier and we made the drive twice all the way from Camros to go watch playoff games him and I after um kind of spamming the ticket lottery for the playoffs Sorry not sorry We we bent the rules and created a whole bunch of email accounts to spam the lottery cuz I wasn’t missing a playoff run that wasn’t supposed to happen This could have been like a four And this 15 team was the first time as an adult where they had captured the imagination of the city again and where it really seemed like something special might be happening And so making it was two threehour drive one in the Vancouver and one in the Anaheim series were some very very special nights in our friendship that I’ll never forget And obviously we ran into another one of those moments that this team somehow always seems to run into where there’s a controversial goal that goes against us And that was in game three of that Anaheim series after Matt Stagen had improbably beaten Vancouver and the find away Flames They’d won a round for the first time since the 04 run And we run into another one of these moments where it just doesn’t bounce our way But this time Johnny Gadro comes down with 20 seconds left in that game and shelfs it And I wasn’t at this one but and I was at work I didn’t see that game I was working as a Walmart greeter but the whole Walmart went nuts and I got a whole bunch of texts from my buddy And it’s another one of those unbelievable moments that only this team can bring for me Of course we lost that series We lose a lot of series And then every other year we seem to make it 16 no go But yes in 17 swept by the Ducks screw the Anaheim Ducks Then 18 Nope And then that 2019 team Oh I poured so much of myself in that 2019 team after years of first round exits or being stuck against the Anaheim Ducks and being outmatched by them That 2019 team I believed that was it We had finished first in the conference We had depth We were contender We were playing a wildcard team in the Avalanche And I was going to go to every game in those playoffs We had figured out the lottery system again And as that game won then game two and game five I was at every home game in that avalanche series And then after game one I was like “Yes 4 nothing We win We’re on our way This is the one I believe.” And we didn’t win another game in that series And at game five when they just didn’t have it sitting with that same guy my best friend and we were talking about religion in game five of the first round of the playoffs because the game wasn’t worth our time And that was the first time that it felt a little broken This was supposed to be it We’ done everything We were the top seed The road to the finals was going to go through Calgary and I was going to be there every game that and there were only three and it ripped my heart out But I was so captured so enamored with this team that my friend and I we decided that we were going to go 5050 and finally buy some season tickets I was going to be there every game every single game And that 2020 season we weren’t going to be the top seed in the West again but we were good We were good And I found out some tremendous news My friend was going to be a dad He’s now a father of two and hopefully three sometime in the near future And I found out for the first time at a Flames game that season that my best friend was going to be a father and I was going to be an uncle And then one of the last games we saw that season together was the goalie fight game the true battle of Alberta It had returned There was hate in the rivalry again and then co happened after all of my fan journey finally becoming a season ticket holder which the thumbnail of this video was from a season ticket holder event where they had all the first year season ticket holders come down on the ice after scavenger hunt and meet one of the rookie players cuz we were considered the 2020 um season ticket rookie class So each season ticket holder got paired with a rookie and we got paired with Jacob Pelchce and I fell in love with Jacob Pelchce I was a bit devastated when that trade happened even though I think it’ll work out well for the Flames in the end But I have this picture that had Jacob Pelchce been one of the people to lead us to where we always wanted to go I was going to be sharing that picture of me and my buddy and his brother standing with Jacob Pelchce on the ice at the dome saying “I was there when it started And it’s around this 2019 2020 time that I start having this feeling creep in and every year I talk about it of when’s it going to be our return because way back in that 2004 run when I was 10 turning 11 and they lost game seven and I was crying my eyes out Mom and dad came into my room and said it’s okay They’re going to win it for you someday And I don’t think even my best friend knows that That’s why I talk about some days so much when they miss the playoffs or get eliminated from them because it means one more year of having to wait for someday But I truly believe someday will come And someday will come faster than I think some of us think it’s coming When it finally does come I will be that Chicago Cubs fan crying my eyes out because I’ve been waiting over 20 years for the day to come I can’t imagine those poor Cubs fans waiting their whole lives or the Leafs fans having to deal with everything they’ve had to deal with As much as I don’t like the team I empathize so much with Leaf fans because they’re waiting for someday too and that 2022 team I finally got my taste of it after co after not being able to use my season tickets for a year and then only being in half full arenas again That that was something else as we were dealing with the restrictions Johnny scores that goal and my friend and his now wife are sitting next to me in the wheelchair section and I start to cry and it’s because in addition to my weight for someday and the fact that this had been the first time I’d actually been there been in the building to see them win a series I’d seen them win playoff games but I never been there for the handshakes for the moment where it feels like they can do it And I cried But not only because of that because of all the 20 years before that but because some truly sad things had happened in my life in the time of CO which we won’t go into here cuz that story is just for me But the truly sad things that had happened although canceled out slightly by the birth of my first nephew had made it so that that season the saddle dome was the biggest source of joy and stability in my life I could forget about the sad things that were happening in other parts of my life and just be a hockey fan Just bleed for this And this was bringing me joy And I had put so much of myself into it again And thank God for that team cuz it was really bad in other parts of my life And so after that season after that stupid Coleman kick in goal after that stupid gif of McDavid celebrating knocking us out of the playoffs and winning the first battle of Alberta in modern times I had to give up my season ticket so that I could live on my own and pay my rent And I’ve been doing that since 2023 I still go to seven or eight games a year Next year I’ll be going to more because my neighbor has season tickets and has agreed to give me a share of them Giving up those season tickets was one of the hardest adult decisions I’ve ever had to make because of how much this team means to me Because it got me through a particularly dark part of my young adulthood And yet here is it 2025 Still waiting for someday still believing that it can happen here and that it will happen here and getting to share my opinions and my story with all of you who care to hear it Don’t ever let anybody tell you that this is just a game because it’s not I bleed for this I hurt for this Every year when it doesn’t work I cry I turn into that 11-year-old kid crying in his bedroom waiting for someday So why do I go back every year because even though the end tends to hurt this team has brought me so much joy so many of my memories the realization that I’m going to be an uncle It all happened at the Saddle Dome Tuning in my old boombox radio to hear them clinch a playoff spot or finally win a series or start that run that ended one game 10 cm short Even though I think that Puck was in and the Parallax guys will never convince me otherwise If it had been a bit more definitive someday might have been way back then but all the joy all the sadness all the frustration comes from this this jersey And it’s why I wear it every time I talk to you guys unless news is coming down really fast And it’s why I’ll wear it even when I have no hair or all that hair is gray And it’s why when I have kids I’m going to take them as much as I can to Scotia Place and stoke their memories and their joy and their love for this thing that I love so much And thank you to my mom and my dad and every single one of you who I share these memories with and who I’ll share that moment with finally when someday does come and it will come and I get to share those happy tears finally with you And so this year finally after being inspired by others who started sitting in front of their camera talking about their favorite team and having these big emotions all the time I decided I was going to widen my someday circle Tell my story to whoever wanted to hear it share the joy the pain the frustration my thoughts my opinions with all of you And I can’t wait for opening day next season when we can forget about Minnesota tying a game with 20 seconds left and breaking my heart again Opening day when someday is possible again or if the team does turn out to be bad how lottery balls could take us finally closer to that day And I can’t wait to share all of the next phase of that journey with you If you like what I’m doing please like share subscribe grow this community as we all wait for someday together And as always go Flames
From a small child in a half empty arena through all the magic and wonderful memories of 2004, the highs, the lows, the changes in my life, the relationships forged, and the heartbreak. I bleed for this! This is my fan story and I’m still waiting for some day
Don’t let anyone tell you “it’s just a game”
Go Flames!
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