FLAMES ON BRINK IN GAME 4
Teams taking different paths add to good-natured household rivalries
Calgary Flames goalie Brian Elliott takes a break during practice at the Saddledome on Tuesday. The Flames face elimination in their Western Conference quarterfinal series with Anaheim Ducks, and it’s not known if Elliott will start for the squad.
It’s not a quite cold war in the Vanderwoude household.
But it’s pretty clear which member of the household has the most spring in their step as the Calgary Flames teeter on the brink of elimination while the Edmonton Oilers are gearing up for what they hope will be a deep playoff drive.
As with many other Calgary households, the Vanderwoudes, who live in Bridlewood, are a family divided come playoff time, with husband Adam, an Oilers diehard, now holding bragging rights over his wife Katie, who bleeds Flames red.
“It’s like a friendly rivalry. He’ll watch the Flames games with me and laugh if they crash and burn,” said Katie, a Calgary-born former Postmedia reporter.
“He even wanted to dress our nearly six-month-old son in a (Edmonton Oilers Connor) McDavid jersey for Easter dinner, but that didn’t happen.”
With a heartbreaking Game 3 loss in Calgary, the Flames are one game away from the end of their season.
Meanwhile, the Oilers remain strongly in contention to move into the next round.
Adam said despite the diverging fortunes of the Alberta rivals, he’s doing his best to maintain a peaceful home environment.
“I’m being as nice as I can be since the Flames aren’t looking great right now,” said the Camrose native and lifelong Oilers fan. “It’s not easy.” That leaves their infant son Will between the divided loyalties, and while he boasts a pair of McDavid jerseys, his mother notes his first hockey-related gift was a Flames sleeper, clearly placing him in the camp of the southern squad.
“He was a Flames fan first,” Katie insists.
Meanwhile, Adam said young Will is free to choose which team deserves his allegiance — though in the father’s mind the choice is pretty clear.
“Of course he has a choice. But he’d better not make the wrong choice,” he said, laughing.
But for Bryce Beresh, a lifelong Oilers fan living in Calgary, his boys, 11-year-old Jack and eightyear-old Evan, have already made their choice, throwing in with the hometown Flames.
“They will never cheer for the Oilers,” said the dad, who noted his sons weren’t happy campers Tuesday, the day after the Flames’ devastating Game 3 loss.
“I fully left it up to them who they cheer for and they became Flames fans.”
With two solid Alberta squads shaping up for the coming years, however, Beresh expects the rivalry in the house will grow, especially if there’s a playoffs Battle of Alberta for the first time in more than a quarter century.
“I think that would be a lot of fun. There might be some trash talking, but it would all be respectful,” he said.