December 4, 2008 An American in the Prairies TFP Columnist Dennis Bernstein traveled to
Calgary and Edmonton last week to follow the Los Angeles Kings take on
the Flames and Oilers. It was an experience he'll never forget.
[EDMONTON, AB] -- If you ask the
average American if they've visited Canada, they'd most likely answer
in the affirmative. But when it comes to the specific cities they've
ventured to, 99% of the time the answer will be one or more of the Big
Three: Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
I've had the good fortune being able to experience all three
destinations; the cosmopolitan flair of TO, the European influence
that permeates Mount Royal and the majestic beauty of British
Columbia.
But no one in my circle of friends, many of them hockey aficionados,
has visited the Prairies.
Though the home of many NHL players and the place where Gretzky,
Messier, Lanny McDonald and yes, even Hakan Loob made their legends,
the province of Alberta doesn't get on the average American’s radar
screen when contemplating travel to the Great White North.
Since
I constantly resist being called average, I thought that a trip to
Calgary and Edmonton would be a great adventure. As luck would have
it, the Los Angeles Kings visited Alberta for back to back games just
before Thanksgiving. In deciding to tag along, the story was more
about the people of the Prairies and little about the individual
games. I wanted to see the fervor this game creates in places that are
very unlike my home town of Los Angeles.
We departed from LAX's Terminal 2 and knew it would be a great trip
immediately because on our Air Canada flight, the in-flight
entertainment included a short film called "Back in '93."
The flick was about a 10 year old Montreal Canadiens fan having to
experience the Habs' miracle Cup run in the midst of LeafNation
(although that expression hadn’t been called yet.) We deplaned in
Calgary and found a small but clean airport, the size was less than
any one terminal at LAX. There was an older gentleman with a white
cowboy hat greeting us as we trekked along to customs, a salutation
you’d be unlikely to find in the States.
While taxiing to our hotel, the chatter progressed to the subject of
oil and gasoline prices. You could tell we were in the midst of Big
Oil country because when our driver was asked about gasoline prices he
simply replied, “We have a lot of oil here.”
It’s hard to fathom such an answer when you live only a couple of
hours away by plane and you pay upwards of $4.50 a gallon this past
summer.
Our accommodations in Calgary were at the Fairmont Palliser (www.fairmont.com).
The Fairmont Palliser luxury hotel opened as The Palliser on June 1,
1914. Named after Captain John Palliser, who explored the area in the
1850s, the eight-floor building was enlarged in 1929, with another $30
million in renovations and restoration recently made. Our stays in
both prairie cities were housed that the Fairmont and we highly
recommend those accommodations when visiting.
While
the city is in boom mode, a wondrous occurrence given the current
state of the global economic crisis, Calgary is a small town compared
to other North American metropolises. On our day in the city, the
Calgary Stampeders had a celebratory victory parade honoring their
Grey Cup victory. Although we were in the city center no more than an
hour after the celebration, there was no trace of any crowd, with the
large banner on the municipal building the only remnant of the gala.
The central location of the Palliser and the unusually balmy weather (Calgarians
called 6 degrees Celsius, 45 degrees Fahrenheit balmy in late
November), allowed us to make the 20 minute walk to the Pengrowth
Saddledome for the evening’s Flames-Kings match. The Saddledome is
located in Stampede Park and is truly shaped like a saddle, making for
an unusual layout for seating. Most of the lower bowl is just 12 rows
high with the exception of the south end of the arena where the
visitors attack twice; those sections have about triple the rows. Our
seats were in the third row in the upper bowl at the blue line, a
prime location next to the television cameras and the face ticket for
our seats were $ 150, an incredible amount for the upper bowl but
there’s always a sellout regardless of prices or the Flames
performance in any particular season.
We chatted up an usher named Harry who’s been working the games for a
long time. He conveyed some unique aspects about attending a game at
the Saddledome. For instance, there are a group of seats in the 300
section called “rush” seats, available to those purchasers on a first
come, first served basis. Additionally, Section 318 is reserved for
patrons of various pubs around the town and those establishments send
shuttles to the Saddledome for game attendees. And finally, the
rowdiest visiting fans aren’t from Edmonton or Toronto but from those
unruly British Columbians from Vancouver.
As the game drew closer, the arena filled to the rafters with the
legendary “Sea of Red”, Calgarians wearing the red away sweaters of
the home side. Though they were loud during goal celebrations, the
throng was very reserved during play, more so than their Edmonton
cousins to the north. Since the Kings played poorly that night, I
wound up with sunburn due to the flames that burned above the ice
after each of the six Calgary goals.
We ventured down to Dutton’s Canadian Lounge after the match and the
place was jammed for a Tuesday night. Though we’re not beer drinkers
in the spirit of the moment, I stood at the bar and ordered up a
Molson Canadian. After walking around the joint, we settled in to a
table and looked for a good subject to yak with and found one in Mike
Conboy, who as fate would have it, worked at our hotel. Now this
evening happened to be the night before Mr. Conboy’s birthday so we’ll
excuse him for some outrageous (Canadian) behavior due to excess
alcohol ingestion. Mike would only admit to be ’29 and holding’ and
proudly showed off an autograph he received earlier in the evening
from his all time favorite Flame, Lanny McDonald. When asked who he
had a stronger dislike for the Oilers or Maple Leafs, Mike professed
equal hatred and also mentioned “Tampa Bay, when they called the goal
back,” in reference to the Flames seven game Finals loss back in 2003.
Before the Flames relocated to Calgary, life long resident Mike
couldn’t bring himself to root for one of the big three, “I rooted for
Philadelphia. Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, they were bums and they
still are.”
As
for his current favorite Flame, he related a sentiment of many Calgary
fans, “Iginla is great. He’s led for such a long time but my favorite
is Dion Phaneuf.”
We finished our drink and stopped in at the Stampede Casino, a 5
minute walk from the arena where a good number of Flames fans availed
themselves to the odd a game of chance after the victory. When we
arrived back at Palliser, I queried Guest Services about the three
hour drive we were to make from Calgary to Edmonton. Since you can see
the Canadian Rockies off in the distance, I wondered if there were any
sightseeing opportunities on the drive up.
“Um, no, there’s really nothing to look at,” was the response of the
smiling Guest Services representative.
We had the good fortune of experiencing excellent weather in Calgary
and it continued on the almost 200 mile trek up the Deerfoot Trail.
Seeing so many trucks and SUVs on the road, we had to chuckle as we
picked up our rental car at the Calgary Airport. And being in the
midst of truck and SUV heaven, we wondered which car would be waiting
for us in spot 27.
A Prius.
So driving the only hybrid on the road within 500 miles, we ventured
north and for our American audience, the drive is analogous to rolling
through Nebraska or Kansas.
Flat. Super Flat.
Just outside of Calgary, we decided to stop off from some breakfast.
In the small town of Airdrie, we rolled into a Tim Horton’s. For those
not familiar with that establishment, it’s a large coffee/breakfast
chain with locations throughout Canada. Not only was the food and
drink fresh and tasty but the tab for the party of two was the same as
what you’d pay for one Venti Anything at the local Starbucks.
As
we rolled up to Red Deer, about half way between the two cities, we
hoped for some break in the monotony but other than a Best Buy located
just off the highway, Red Deer wasn’t going to provide that break.
Entering Edmonton, you can see on the outskirts of the city that it’s
larger and more picturesque than Calgary. The place even has hills! We
settled in nicely in our room at the Hotel MacDonald, known as the
Mac, a place with history equaling its counterpart in Calgary. It
opened in 1915 and served the city until 1983 when it closed it doors
due to the state of disrepair it fell into. Two years later, the city
designated the hotel as a Municipal Heritage Resource (and thereby
saving it from the wrecking ball) and was the first building in
Edmonton to receive such a designation. After six years of debating on
its redevelopment and an ownership change, the Mac re-opened in 1991
with modern conveniences and old school charm.
The Mac’s downtown location was perfect to commute the game at Rexall
Place (known as the Northlands Coliseum when Gretz and Mess patrolled
the ice). The Edmonton light rail system was available across the
street and after an uncrowded 15 minute ride we were left just outside
the arena’s doors. As unique as the Saddledome architecture was,
Rexall Place was the polar opposite. The edifice is a non-descript
building with few luxury suites. The seats have hard wooden backs and
if not for all those Stanley Cup banners and the oil rig the home side
enters under, it has little charm.
But what were charming were the Oilers fans. At the conclusion of the
two nights in Alberta, there is one lasting impression you depart
with. In both hockey locations, the game creates a sense of community.
So many families; fathers, sons, wives and daughters are happy to jam
into the old joint to see the likes of Hemsky, Souray and Moreau
attempting to recreate past Edmonton glory.
Jarret Stoll, who toiled in Edmonton four seasons before being dealt
to the Kings over the summer is a son of the Prairies, born in
Melville, Saskatchewan. Growing up, Jarret surprisingly wasn’t a fan
of the Oilers or Flames but the Philadelphia Flyers. The reason for
this rooting interest was quite simple, “my minor team’s colors were
orange and black,” he related in perfect hockey sense.
In typical prairie style, Stoll wears #28 because his grandfather
selected it; Grandpa was born in 1928 and Jarret was born in 1982. The
Oilers match marked his first return in a visitor’s uniform and he
talked about a player’s view of the game in the region.
“I’m excited to go back; I spent six years in the organization,” he
said. “You get to see a lot of friends, family and people that
supported you. I enjoyed my years there, we had the Stanley Cup run in
2006 and once you get back, the talk is everything hockey; it’s all
about how the Oilers and Flames are doing. Coming from there, you play
hockey in the winter and baseball in the summer.”
While he enjoyed his time in Edmonton, Stoll realized that the intense
media coverage is not for everyone. Jarret was a teammate of Chris
Pronger when the turmoil regarding the defenseman’s departure occurred
and empathized with his former teammate.
“People in the media are going to write and say what they want. The
attention is non-stop; every day there are 15 to 20 media around you.
You’re in the spotlight because people care religiously about their
team. You just have to live your life, come to the rink, work hard
every day and act like a professional.”
Stoll was a high profile player in Edmonton, so anywhere he’d go, he
was sorted out by fans looking for an autograph or just to say hello.
But the fans of the Oil aren’t untypical when the team’s fortunes
aren’t gushing and Stoll would prefer angst over apathy.
“When things are great, everyone’s great but when they’re not people
will get on you. I think it’s only because they care so much about the
team,” he explained.
When you juxtapose the laid back Los Angeles market to the intense
Edmonton one, Stoll doesn’t mind the anonymity he enjoys living by the
beach, “it’s just different here because you have so many other things
going on here, you have every sport here except of the NFL.”
Regardless of the level of attention he gets on or off the ice,
Stoll’s approach is the same on the ice, “you notice things like
giving out autographs, I’m always asked for one in Canada but I rarely
give out one in LA, either way it doesn’t affect your mindset for the
game.”
After
our pregame meal, we ventured into the crowd and meet up with three
teens, a pair wearing Ales Hemsky jerseys and one with a Kings
sweater. Johnny Folkerts, a junior B defenseman and his neighbor
Austin Page, a junior A defenseman bore the winger’s number.
When asked why a blueliner would wear a winger’s sweater, Johnny
conveyed, “I just love the way he plays since he joined the team. I
like Sheldon Souray’s slapshot but Hemsky’s my favorite.”
When asked about Chris Pronger, he gave a typical Edmonton teenager’s
response, “I used to be a big fan but since they traded him, I hate
him.”
And when asked about the Leafs vs. Flames, he gave me the funniest
response of the night.
“I hate the Leafs more because everybody else in my family is a Flames
fan; I’d get my butt kicked if I didn’t root for them.”
As for our friend in the Kings’ jersey, it was Austin’s brother
Quinton, who professed no typical rooting interest in the Kings but
merely wore the sweater to get under the skin of his brother and
neighbor. Some hockey scenarios are consistent regardless of city or
country, eh?
Settling into our seats in the Molson Canadian Fan Zone (not sure why
this corner upper bowl section has this designation other than a small
alcove lounge in the concourse), you heard a good amount of disdain as
the Oilers failed to mount significant offense this evening. Most of
the vitriol wasn’t directed at any particular player but at the man
behind the bench, Edmonton Head Coach Craig MacTavish. One of the
worst jobs in sports is to be the coach of a struggling Canadian
hockey team and the pressure may be getting to MacTavish. From his
documented squabble with a fan in Dallas last weekend to the groans of
the home fans questioning his moves (Why play Roloson when he’s going
to leave at season’s end? Why does he keep changing line
combinations?) and with the Oilers near the bottom of the Western
Conference, there’s a definite uneasiness in Rexall Place these days.
I got the skinny on all things puck in Edmonton from Shawn Tully, a 24
year old accountant who attended the game with his father Gordon. The
Tullys have had four tickets in the upper bowl for the past fifteen
years and Shawn profiles as your typical Edmonton fan. His all time
favorite Oiler is Ryan Smyth, he lists Souray and Moreau (because of
the heart he shows every night) as his current favs but unlike his
teenage counterparts, he believes Hemsky, although the most talented
player on the roster, doesn’t bring it every night.
If Shawn had a first pick in an ultimate hockey pool and had to pick
either Gretzky or Messier, he’d go this route, “I’d have to go with
Gretzky. I love Messier’s heart but no one had Gretzky’s hands.”
I asked Gordon about the dark days before the Oilers, when there was
no NHL hockey in Edmonton, which team had his rooting interest. He
related it was the Boston Bruins and the reason was two words, “Bobby
Orr.”
When presented with the Flames vs. Leafs query, I got a response from
Shawn that was very telling about the feeling towards the Canadian
media treatment game for those that live outside Ontario.
“I hate the Leafs because Toronto thinks they’re the center of Canada,
the center of the hockey universe. Up here we call TSN (the Canadian
version of ESPN), the TORONTO sports network... CBC, our government
owned national network, shoves the Leafs games down our throat every
Saturday for the past twenty years. Even if the Oilers are playing or
there are ten better games on the schedule, we get to see the Leafs.”
As the holder of four season tickets, I asked about the popularity of
the Oilers and the availability of tickets in the city.
“Let me tell you something, a couple of years ago the Oilers ended the
season with a fifteen game losing streak. I had no problem getting rid
of any tickets. Season tickets are completely sold out here and I
think there’s a 15 year waiting list for tickets,” Shawn revealed.
The Kings escaped that night with a 2-1 victory and the good natured
groans came from every corner of Rexall Place and we headed back to
our hotel. As we settled into our seat at the beautiful oak bar in the
lounge at the Mac drinking a typical LA drink (pomegranate martini) in
a classic Canadian setting, we realized that our trip was one that
every hockey fan should make in their lifetime.
Dennis
Bernstein, the man behind SCORE! Media and an NHL
Analyst with ESPN Radio, is the Los Angeles
Correspondent for The Fourth Period Magazine and a Columnist
for TheFourthPeriod.com.
Since
I constantly resist being called average, I thought that a trip to
Calgary and Edmonton would be a great adventure. As luck would have
it, the Los Angeles Kings visited Alberta for back to back games just
before Thanksgiving. In deciding to tag along, the story was more
about the people of the Prairies and little about the individual
games. I wanted to see the fervor this game creates in places that are
very unlike my home town of Los Angeles. 
While
the city is in boom mode, a wondrous occurrence given the current
state of the global economic crisis, Calgary is a small town compared
to other North American metropolises. On our day in the city, the
Calgary Stampeders had a celebratory victory parade honoring their
Grey Cup victory. Although we were in the city center no more than an
hour after the celebration, there was no trace of any crowd, with the
large banner on the municipal building the only remnant of the gala.
As
for his current favorite Flame, he related a sentiment of many Calgary
fans, “Iginla is great. He’s led for such a long time but my favorite
is Dion Phaneuf.” 
As
we rolled up to Red Deer, about half way between the two cities, we
hoped for some break in the monotony but other than a Best Buy located
just off the highway, Red Deer wasn’t going to provide that break.
Entering Edmonton, you can see on the outskirts of the city that it’s
larger and more picturesque than Calgary. The place even has hills! We
settled in nicely in our room at the Hotel MacDonald, known as the
Mac, a place with history equaling its counterpart in Calgary. It
opened in 1915 and served the city until 1983 when it closed it doors
due to the state of disrepair it fell into. Two years later, the city
designated the hotel as a Municipal Heritage Resource (and thereby
saving it from the wrecking ball) and was the first building in
Edmonton to receive such a designation. After six years of debating on
its redevelopment and an ownership change, the Mac re-opened in 1991
with modern conveniences and old school charm.
After
our pregame meal, we ventured into the crowd and meet up with three
teens, a pair wearing Ales Hemsky jerseys and one with a Kings
sweater. Johnny Folkerts, a junior B defenseman and his neighbor
Austin Page, a junior A defenseman bore the winger’s number. 