My favourite Northwest rival

Tonight the Avalanche take their league best 9-1-2 record into Calgary. I'm fairly certain it will be a great game and if you want a preview, just click the link to Mile High Hockey on the side of this page as this post isn't about tonight's game. It's about a dynamic shared between me and good friend Adam Smith, one of the biggest Flames fans I know.

Flames-Avalanche games don't quite have the same level of hatred that is owned by many of the other rivalries in the Northwest division. The Oilers and Flames destroy each other during Battle of Alberta. The Flames and Canucks have the showdown over the Rocky Mountains. The Avalanche have the Steve Moore grudge match with Vancouver. And the Canucks-Oilers game dates back to the days of Wayne Gretzky and the Smythe division. Games against Minnesota are tough but don't elicit the same level of passion as the real rivalries.

How does this relate to Adam and I? During my last year at McGill, Adam and I worked at the McGill Tribune together and watched a lot of hockey (usually Flames games though he would sometimes stay for an Avalanche game if the timing was right). The Flames were in the midst of the dreadful Jim Playfair year. The Avalanche were still saddled with Jose Theodore's awful contract/goaltending. Both teams were completely mediocre (to the point that two teams finished 8th and 9th in the West, with Calgary taking the final playoff spot by a point). Playfair's coaching was so bad that Adam penned this column in the Trib, which begun the "Fire Jim Playfair" bandwagon (Playfair was demoted back to assistant coach after the season). This was compounded by the Flames' dismal performance in the final two games of the season and into the playoffs. During Calgary's 81st game it was announced that Avalanche had lost to the Nashville Predators, clinching the Flames a spot in the post-season. The Flames went on to lose that game (against the terrible Oilers) and again a night later, this time against the Avalanche in Denver. They were quickly eliminated by the Detroit Red Wings in the opening round. But I digress.

We knew that our teams weren't going anywhere but neither one of us cared. We had a mutual hatred of the Oilers and Canucks. We both wanted to see our teams beat the Wild. And neither one of us had any time for the Maple Leafs. It became routine. A usual night consisted of Adam heading by just before the game started with a case of beer and bag of Doritos/Lays. We drank, watched, analyzed and usually complained. We'd go nuts if the Canuck/Oilers were the victims and were pissed off when those teams beat ours.

Avalanche-Flames games were different. With puck drop around 9:00, we made the trek (usually in the middle of a Montreal Winter) up St Laurent to Schwartz's for smoked meat. In ground zero for Habs fans, we dared to walk in the door wearing Calgary Red and Colorado Burgundy. When we finally rolled our-smoked meat filled-selves back down the hill to watch the game, we had already dissected everything that we thought our teams could give us that night and we didn't think much of either team's chances (Colorado took the season series 5-3-0). When the game finally began, we both took turns lauding and ripping our respective team. While we both wanted our boys to win, there wasn't a sense of hatred in the room even though every game mattered in the ultra-competitive Northwest.

It's this relationship that has led me to consider the Calgary Flames as an opponent, and not an enemy. I certainly want Colorado to beat Calgary tonight just as I'm sure that Adam would like his Flames to steamroll my Avs. But we only want this for hockey reasons. There isn't a hatred or envy. Just a mutual respect between two consistent and somewhat storied franchises.

Hope it's a classic tonight.