BATTLE OF ALBERTA STILL RESONATES FOR PLAYERS
But task at hand remains focal point for players, coaches as they prepare for game
Just an hour and a half north on the Queen Elizabeth II Highway is Red Deer, smack dab in the middle between Calgary and Edmonton.
And at the Crown and Anchor Bar — a former drinking establishment on Gaetz Avenue — Bill Peters remembers a line was drawn, literally, in the middle of the room.
“One (side) was Edmonton. One was Calgary, right?” the Calgary Flames head coach recalls. “Probably if they were smart, the North side of the bar would have been Edmonton (fans) and the South side was Calgary.”
Of course, Peters was on the South side, right?
“I was too young. I couldn’t get in,” he said with a grin. “How’s that? I didn’t have a fake ID.”
Whatever side he was on back then — whether it was when he was growing up in Three Hills, Alta., or when he was playing at Red Deer College in the 1980s — he is on the South side of the Battle of Alberta now and will face the Edmonton Oilers in his first bout as boss of the Flames.
It’s the first of four clashes between the teams in 2018-19 with the next two happening on the ‘North Side’ at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Dec. 9 and Jan. 19. The finale is on April 6 at Calgary.
But ... Saturday night, Hockey Night in Canada, Battle of Alberta — it doesn’t get more nostalgic than that.
“Living in Edmonton, it was a big deal for sure,” recalled Flames centre Derek Ryan, who spent four years at the University of Alberta from the 2007-08 season through 2010-11. “You feel the hype in the city. It’s just one of those big rivalries that when I was watching it on TV and going to school, you dreamed of being on the ice in those moments where the crowd is into it and the city’s into it. It seems like there’s more on the line than just hockey. “Makes it a lot of fun.”
Not that he has ever experienced one first-hand, however.
Even when he was playing for the Golden Bears, he never had a chance to sneak over to Rexall Place and soak it all in.
“Usually the games were on Saturdays so I was also playing and we were like, ‘Ah, I guess there’s no one going to be at our game at Clare Drake Arena,” Ryan said with a chuckle. “But we’d watch the games afterwards at someone’s house or something like that. But I was never able to take in the full experience up there.”
Dillon Dube has experienced it at the Scotiabank Saddledome. He was part of the ‘C’ of red, too.
“Our whole family drove from Golden to watch a Battle of Alberta game,” said the Flames rookie centre, who’ll draw back into the lineup Saturday after missing four games with a concussion.
“I was probably only nine years old. It was a two-hour trip. It was the first game I was at. I’ve been to two Battle of Alberta games. They were pretty fun to be a part of and all good teams when I was watching them.
“Pretty cool to be a part of it now. Whatever happens, the atmosphere will be cool.”
There is a contingent of local Oilers fans that circles this game on their calendar and come out of the woodwork to cheer on Connor McDavid and Co. Plenty of out-of-towners make the drive, too.
And it only adds to the atmosphere and fan banter between the two sides — North and South. Just like Peters remembers. “It was just intense,” he said. “The whole province was divided. A lot of fun, right? People look forward to those games.”
As a coach, however, the Flames are focused on the task at hand, which is trying to create some separation in the Pacific Division and improve upon their 10-8-1 record. The Oilers are 9-8-1 and sitting behind Calgary in fourth.
Meaning that if there are fan arguments — over whether McDavid is more dangerous than Johnny Gaudreau, or who had the better off-season, or which team has the better top line — the players and coaches likely don’t hear a thing.
“It’s funny when you’re inside the glass, everything is calm and you don’t hear all that stuff,” Peters said. “You know when it’s a little louder than usual but you don’t know what’s going on behind you. You’re focused on what’s coming and what’s happening on the ice to make sure you can see everything and give feedback to players and make sure guys know who are up and what’s going on and when you’ve got communication going on with the officials throughout the game.
“It’s busy down there but it’s fun when buildings are full and loud and raucous.”