We’re a city of optimists, but last night, our optimism took a major hit when for the first time since the 2002/2003 season, our beloved Calgary Flames failed to make Stanley Cup playoffs.
The stars aligned just perfectly for our defeat, as last night’s eleventh-hour loss to San Jose and Colorado’s overtime win against Vancouver clinched them our would-be spot.
We’re a city that eats, sleeps and breathes our hockey. Ever since our magical run to game seven of the Stanley cup final in 2004, we re-fell back in love with our guys in red, and hopes of a return to 1989 Stanley Cup-winning glory abounded every season since.
Tickets to actual games have been hard to come by since then, and while I now officially have seats to the most boring and useless game of the season tomorrow night (the Flames play their final inconsequential home game against the Minnesota Wild, who too won’t be moving on to any post-season action), I try and bask in the glow of that very thin silver lining:
Parking downtown: won’t be too much of a problem now that the Red Mile will simply remain the untransformed 17th Avenue—and Melrose will be available to all, not just fanatical hockey revelers.
Fashion Flame-out: While I too love to don my flaming C (is there a true Calgarian who doesn’t?), keeping my jersey constantly clean and wear-ready as not to jinx the team during play-off games gets exhausting. And while red is most definitely my color, a little hard to pair with anything else with the words ‘fashion-forward’ attached.
PVR Pick-Me-Up: Without a month’s worth of play-off action to keep our nights occupied, my PVR does not have to suffer the abuse of multiple (and seemingly endless) daily recordings. After all, Glee starts back up again next week, and I can finally dig into the seven lingering episodes of The Amazing Race.
With that said, we all know that in Cowtown, hope springs eternal. In only six short months, the C of Red reconvenes, and we will once again morph from a city of mourners to those wide-eyed optimists eating up every puck drop, Iggy’s every goal, and Kiprosoff’s every save.
I’ll keep my jersey nice and clean ‘til then.