MORE THAN JUST AN ICE HOCKEY PLAYER
BY RETIRING HIS JERSEY
CALGARY HOCKEY MAGAZINE I SPRING 2024
TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME CALGARY HOCKEY PLAYERS WHO TAKE TO THE DIAMOND 5 7
MESSAGE FROM THE PUBLISHER
JONATHAN HUBERDEAU MORE THAN JUST AN ICE HOCKEY PLAYER
FLAMES HONOUR MIIKKA KIPRUSOFF AT JERSEY RETIREMENT CEREMONY
ON THE CLOCK: BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THE CALGARY FLAMES AT THE NHL DRAFT
NEW BOOK BY RYAN PIKE 12
PARA-ICE HOCKEY CALGARY AWARDED THE 2024 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
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Welcome to our Spring Edition of the Calgary Hockey Magazine, our final edition for the 2023-2024 season.
In this edition, we have a special feature on Jonathan Huberdeau and his special partnership with Knapper Sports. And his ball hockey roots. Huberdeau played a lot of hockey growing up, which is extremely popular in his home province of Quebec.
Speaking of sports outside of ice hockey, we have a special feature on Calgary Flames players, who played baseball at a very high level. Players including Chris Drury, Mike Commodore, Jarome Iginla, and Jamie Macoun to name a few.
Related to former Flames players, our Senior Writer (Jeremy Freeborn) attended the Miikka Kiprusoff jersey retirement ceremony on March 2nd, and has contributed a great article about this special event. We also have a special feature interview with Ryan Pike, the author of a new book entitled “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Calgary Flames at the NHL Draft.”
Last but not least, we are pleased to share the recent announcement that Calgary will be hosting the 13th World Para Ice Hockey Championships in May. This is very exciting news, and it marks the second time Canada has hosted this event. (Moose Jaw hosted the event last year.)
This wraps up our final edition of the magazine for the hockey season. I hope you enjoy this issue of the Calgary Hockey Magazine, and if you have any suggestions for a future edition, please pass them along. In the meantime, best wishes to everyone in the off-season.
Calgary Hockey Magazine
By Jeremy Freeborn
on-ICE PHOTOS PROVIDED
BY CALGARY FLAMES HOcKEY CLUBWhen Jonathan Huberdeau was traded from the Florida Panthers to the Calgary Flames on July 22, 2022, there was an initial belief among Flames fans that Calgary was getting an elite playmaker in the National Hockey League. During the 2021-22 season, Huberdeau led the NHL in assists with 85, and his 115 points were second only to Connor McDavid’s 123 points. Over two seasons in Calgary, Huberdeau continues to be a pass-first player. He has 60 assists in 127 games. However, there is a lot more to Huberdeau’s hockey skills than just his on-ice play. Huberdeau is very active in the ball hockey community and was recently an ambassador for Knapper Sports at the 2022 World Ball Hockey Championships in Laval, Quebec.
Huberdeau first teamed up with Knapper Sports on September 3, 2021. He initially promoted dek hockey, which is an organized modern version of street/ball/floor hockey, played on plastic tiles. Dek hockey has become extremely popular in Quebec, with 75,000 participants. There are leagues and summer tournaments
Ball hockey is not just popular in Quebec. As of 2023, there are nearly 1,662 participants in the Calgary Super Leagues Ball Hockey Program, 380 participants from the Calgary Sport and Social Club, and 147 participants from the Calgary Fury Ball Hockey Club.
I think it is a great company. They are founded in Quebec. I am from there and was a ball hockey guy when I was young. Having a chance to work together and partner with them is important for me. I think it’s a great opportunity to help grow the game.
In terms of ball hockey equipment, Knapper products can be found at Calgary’s two Pro Hockey Life stores, located in CrossIron Mills and 4916 130 avenue SE.
After a Calgary Flames practice in January, Calgary Hockey Magazine had the opportunity to speak to Huberdeau about this fascinating type of hockey, which is significantly more affordable than ice hockey. We also talked about his experience with the Calgary Flames and traditional ice hockey.
Huberdeau is thrilled with his relationship with Knapper.
“I think it is a great company,” he said. “They are founded in Quebec. I am from there (born in Saint-Jérôme) and was a ball hockey guy when I was young. Having a chance to work together and partner with them was important for me. I thought it was a great opportunity to help grow the game. Ball hockey is more accessible for a lot of people because ice hockey is so expensive.”
At the 2022 World Ball Hockey Championships in Laval, Canada won the gold medal on the men’s side. The Canadians defeated the Czech Republic 6-3 in the gold medal game. On the women’s side, Canada also won the gold medal, beating the Czech Republic 3-2. The Flames forward discusses how fascinated he was with the overall skill set of the players while attending the 2022 World Championship as a Knapper Sports ambassador.
“It was impressive,” said Huberdeau. “It is different with a ball. You can have a lot of skill with the ball. Just seeing a lot of the top players from your country was a lot of fun. It is a great level of hockey.”
Huberdeau first started playing ball hockey with his brothers at age 13 as there was a ball hockey venue by his house. He joined the league. Huberdeau explains what he likes most about this form of hockey.
“On the ice when you are on skates, you are sometimes floating. With ball hockey, whenever you stop running, you stop. Playing ball hockey in the summer really helps your cardio.”
Huberdeau never played ball hockey at a high-performance level because he did not want to risk injury. As a teenager, he played ice hockey for the Saint-Eustache Vikings of the Quebec Midget AAA hockey league and the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Huberdeau did participate in a couple of ball hockey tournaments and enjoyed the camaraderie.
“It is fun playing with your friends,” said Huberdeau. “It just feels great just being part of a team in the summer.”
When it came to skating, Huberdeau first remembered speed skating at the age of four. Then at age five, his parents bought him his first hockey stick, and he started playing ice hockey soon after. It would be the family home basement where Jonathan developed his hockey skills as he played regularly with his brothers, Josiane and Sébastien.
Prior to playing in the NHL, Huberdeau had outstanding seasons with the Vikings and Sea Dogs. While with Saint-Eustache in 2008-09, he led the QMAAA in scoring with 50 points (20 goals and 30 assists) in 43 games. Then at the junior level, Huberdeau played four seasons with Saint John from 2009-13. He had 104 goals and 153 assists for 257 points in only 195 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League regular season games.
Huberdeau’s 105 points in the 2010-11 season were the third most in the QMJHL. That season the Saint John Sea Dogs won the Memorial Cup with Huberdeau winning the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as the Memorial Cup Most Valuable Player. Huberdeau had three goals and three assists for six points in three games.
Also, during his junior career, Huberdeau represented Canada at the 2012 and 2013 World Junior Hockey Championship. In 2012, Canada won bronze in Alberta. Huberdeau had one goal and eight assists for nine points in six games. He then had three goals and six assists for nine points in six games in 2013 in Russia, as Canada finished sixth.
When it came to the draft, Huberdeau was selected in the first round, third overall, by the Florida Panthers in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. “He’s got a killer instinct with the puck,” said former TSN analyst Pierre McGuire of Huberdeau’s time with the Sea Dogs. “When he has the puck on his stick, he’s going to make a difference. He doesn’t waste any time. He’s got great speed, vision, and lateral mobility.”
It took Huberdeau time to develop as an NHL player with Florida. His breakout season came in 2018-19, when he was named the Panthers assistant captain. He had 92 points (30 goals and 62 assists) in 82 games. Over the next two seasons, Huberdeau averaged more than a point per game (43 goals and 96 assists for 139 points in 124 games) before his breakout 2021-22 season where he eclipsed the century mark in points for the first time.
Huberdeau was traded to Calgary in the summer of 2022, alongside defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, prospect Cole Schwindt, and a first round pick in 2025 for Matt Tkachuk and a conditional fourth round pick. Former Flames general manager Brad Treliving was under significant pressure to make a deal because he was notified by Tkachuk that he did not have intention to sign long-term in Calgary. The Flames had recently lost Johnny Gaudreau for nothing when he signed a long-term deal with Columbus. At the time, Huberdeau was considered the most notable asset the Flames received in return.
Huberdeau discusses his thoughts of the deal.
“It was obviously a shocking moment at first,” he recalled. “It was a trade I didn’t really expect. After that, when everything went down, I was really excited to come here. I got to learn more about the city since I got here and Calgary is a beautiful city. There are a lot of nice people who are supportive and care about hockey. The fans are into it.”
When assessing his own game, Huberdeau feels he is a pass-first player. He knows that he is not playing in Calgary at the same level he was in Florida but is confident that he will find a way to improve.
“I wanted to be the same guy I was, and it didn’t work out that way,” he said. “Eventually, it is going to come back.”
In conclusion for those young hockey players interested in ball hockey and ice hockey, Huberdeau has the following message.
“Ball hockey is a fun sport because it gives you the chance to play hockey in the summer. It helps your cardio and is a great way to stay in shape. I really encourage youth to try ball hockey first and then transition to ice hockey.”
This season Huberdeau’s goal is to help get the Flames into the playoffs. He knows if the Flames just get in, anything from that point forward is possible. When the season is done, it is not out of the question, you could find Huberdeau developing his hockey skills with a ball!
“Ball hockey is a fun sport because it gives you the chance to play hockey in the summer. It helps your cardio and is a great way to stay in shape. I really encourage youth to try ball hockey first and then transition to ice hockey.
There have been some outstanding athletes who have played high performance hockey in Calgary over the years. The talent of players within the Calgary Flames organization itself has been extraordinary. Many of these players were multi-sport athletes growing up. With spring around the corner, let’s take a look at some of the baseball careers of professional/high performance hockey players with connections to Calgary.
Nolan Baumgartner
The Calgary native starred for Bow Ridge Little League baseball growing up. Baumgartner went on to play 143 games as an NHL defenseman from 1995 to 2010 with the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, Vancouver Canucks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers and Dallas Stars.
Theoren Fleury
Fleury’s path to playing high level baseball is different than most players on this list. He played two games with the Calgary Vipers of the Golden Baseball League in 2008, five seasons after retiring from the New York Rangers in his NHL career. Fleury had one base hit single in three at-bats.
Mike Commodore
The former Calgary Flames defenseman was an integral part of the Flames’ organization that went to the 2004 Stanley Cup final. As a teenager, Commodore made frequent trips to Calgary’s Shouldice Park as a pitcher for the Fort Saskatchewan Red Sox at the midget level in the mid-1990s. He also played for Team Alberta at the national level.
Drury had 23 goals and 30 assists for 53 points in 80 games with the Flames during the 2002-03 season. Growing up, Drury was great at baseball. He helped his 10-year-old team from Trumbull, Connecticut win the 1989 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. In the championship game, Connecticut beat Taiwan 5-2. Drury pitched a complete game (six full innings) and only gave up five hits, and had two runs batted in. In 2009, Drury was inducted into the Little League Hall of Excellence.
The former goaltender from Spruce Grove played one NHL season in 1999-2000 in Calgary. While growing up, Fuhr was not only a great goaltender but a great catcher, too. He turned down an opportunity to play professionally in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization so he could concentrate on hockey.
We all know that Iginla is one of the greatest Flames players in franchise history. While growing up in St. Albert, Iginla was a pitcher and catcher for the St. Albert Cardinals. In fact, according to Ian Wilson of Alberta Dugout Stories, he even threw a no-hitter a week before the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, where he was selected in the first round, 11th overall, by the Dallas Stars. Iginla’s most notable baseball tournament came at the 1992 Canadian National Bantam Championship in St. Albert. He batted .400 in 20 at-bats and was named a tournament all-star catcher. There was a time that Iginla considered pursuing baseball and hockey, but luckily for Flames fans, he dropped baseball to concentrate on shooting pucks!
In another interesting tidbit, it was in Lacombe during a baseball tournament in 1987 that the 10-year-old Iginla met his childhood idol Grant Fuhr for the first time. Fuhr played high level senior men’s baseball in the summer while playing for the Edmonton Oilers the rest of the year.
Jamie Macoun
An undrafted winger, Loyns played 13 NHL games with the Calgary Flames from 2003 to 2006. Before his time in Calgary, Loyns represented Team Canada on the 1999 Canadian National Junior Team as a third baseman. While playing junior hockey with the Spokane Chiefs, Loyns had an outstanding baseball season attending Ferris High School, in Spokane. He batted .572 and also pitched, where he posted a record of six wins and zero losses.
This blueliner played nine seasons with the Flames from 1982 to 1992. Macoun was on the NHL’s all-rookie team in 1983-84 and won a Stanley Cup with the Flames in 1989. Prior to playing in the NHL, Macoun was an excellent baseball player with Newmarket. As a teenager he was a high-level shortstop, centrefield and catcher before accepting a scholarship to play hockey at Ohio State.
Paul Manning
This multi-sport athlete from Red Deer was drafted in the 20th round, 619th overall, by the New York Yankees in the 1997 Major League Baseball Draft, as an outfielder with the Red Deer Braves. A year later, he was selected in the third round, 62nd overall, by the Calgary Flames in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft as a defenseman. Manning pursued hockey. He never played for the Flames and was traded to the Buffalo Sabres on June 24, 2001. Manning would later play only eight NHL games, all with the Columbus Blue Jackets during the 2002-03 season before playing nine professional hockey seasons from 2003 to 2012 with the Hamburg Freezers in Germany.
At the age of 10, Matteau represented Canada at the 1982 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. On the same team from Rouyn, Quebec, was future Hockey Hall of Famer and 1987 first overall pick Pierre Turgeon. Matteau was the Flames’ first round pick, 25th overall, in the 1987 NHL Draft. He would go on to have 16 goals and 19 assists for 35 points in 82 games with the Flames from 1990 to 1992.
Growing up in Calgary, Wanvig was an exceptional pitcher for Centennial Little League. As a professional hockey player, he played five NHL seasons with the Minnesota Wild and Tampa Bay Lightning as a right winger from 2002 to 2008. In 75 games, Wanvig had six goals and nine assists for 15 points.
While growing up in St. Paul, Minnesota, Quinlan was an outstanding two-sport athlete. He played baseball and hockey at the University of Minnesota. Quinlan was selected in the fourth round, 79th overall in the 1986 NHL Draft by the Flames. However, he chose baseball and played four seasons at third base from 1990 to 1996 with the Toronto Blue Jays, Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins. Quinlan made baseball history in South Korea when, in 2000 with the Hyundai Unicorns, he became the first foreign born Korean Series most valuable player.
The Cochrane native currently plays for the Northern Alberta Xtreme U18 Prep Team in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League U18 Division. Boychuk, a centre, was selected second overall in the 2023 Western Hockey League draft by the Prince Albert Raiders. Also a baseball player, Boychuk was a shortstop and pitcher on Cochrane’s U15 team in 2022. He participated for Airdrie/Cochrane at the 2022 Alberta Zone Baseball Championship.
A left winger from Sherwood Park, Holmes has played hockey the last three years for Mount Royal University. He was an exceptional baseball player, too. Holmes was a third baseman and outfielder for Team Canada on the 2016 National Junior Team and went on to play college baseball for Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey.
The remarkable goaltender for the Mount Royal University women’s hockey team won a University Sports Women’s Hockey Championship in Montreal in 2023 and was named tournament MVP. It marked the first national championship for the MRU Cougars in any sport since the school became a university in 2012. She had a record of 22 wins, 11 losses and nine shutouts with a goals against average of 1.41 and save percentage of .935. However, stopping pucks is not the only thing Ross excels at. She has been a catcher for Team Canada’s Women’s Baseball since 2018. Ross also played with the boys at the Ripken World Series.
Saturday, March 2 was a special night for the Calgary Flames organization. For the fourth time in the history of the franchise, a Flames player had his number retired. Goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff of Turku, Finland, saw his number 34 raised to the rafters of the Scotiabank Saddledome.
You could make the argument that Kiprusoff is one of the best National Hockey League goaltenders all-time to have never won the Stanley Cup. In 576 games with the Flames from 2003 to 2013, Kiprusoff had a record of 305 wins, 192 regulation losses, 68 ties/extra time losses, 41 shutouts, a goals against average of 2.46 and a save percentage of .913. He is the Flames all-time leader in wins, shutouts, save percentage, goals against average, minutes played by a goalie (33,779), games played by a goalie (576), and saves (14,631). In 2005-06, he became the only Flames goaltender ever to win the Vezina Trophy, presented to the game’s best goaltender each season.
Considered an absolute workhorse, the most remarkable attribute about Kiprusoff was the amount of games he played with the Flames. For seven straight seasons from 2005-2012, he played a minimum of 70 games, including 76 games in back-to-back NHL seasons of 200708 and 2008-09.
According to Eric Francis, of Rogers Sportsnet, and Meaghan Mikkelson, of the FAN 960, we will never see a goaltender play 92.7 per cent of his team’s games in a single season ever again.
For the Fall Issue of Calgary Hockey Magazine, in an exclusive interview with former Flames head coach and general manager Darryl Sutter, I asked him what was the best trade he ever made. His oneword answer was “Kiprusoff.” On Nov. 16, 2003, the Flames acquired Kiprusoff from the San Jose Sharks for a second-round pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.
At the time, not too many people knew much about Kiprusoff. He was behind Evgeni Nabokov and Vesa Toskala on the Sharks’ depth chart and his statistics were not all that significant (14-21-3 with an .897 save percentage). However, Sutter, in his first season as the Flames general manager, was aware of Kiprusoff’s overall skill set and took a chance on him.
The draft pick the Flames traded to San Jose was noteworthy. It turned out to be Canadian Olympic gold medalist and stay-at-home defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic of Montreal.
The mind-boggling statistics that Kiprusoff put together in his first season with the Flames were simply magnificent. In 38 games, Kiprusoff won 24. He had four shutouts, a goals against average of 1.69 and a save percentage of .933. The Flames came within one game of beating the Tampa Bay Lightning to win the Stanley Cup. Then during his Vezina Trophy winning season of 2005-06, Kiprusoff led the NHL with 10 shutouts and had the lowest goals against average of 2.07. As the Flames gave up the fewest number of goals in the NHL that season with 200, Kiprusoff won the William M. Jennings Trophy as well.
Kiprusoff is now the fifth Finnish player ever to have his number retired. He joins Jari Kurri, of the Edmonton Oilers (number 17 in 2001); Teemu Selanne, of the Anaheim Ducks (number 8 in 2015); Jere Lehtinen, of the Dallas Stars (number 26 in 2017); and Pekka Rinne, of the Nashville Predators (number 35 in 2022). Kiprusoff also joins Lanny McDonald, of Hanna, Alberta (number nine in 1990), Mike Vernon, of Calgary (number 30 in 1997), and Jarome Iginla, of St. Albert (number 12 in 2019) as the only Flames to have their numbers retired.
“It means a lot,” said Kiprusoff about following in the steps of Rinne. “For me (to have a number retired by your team) this is the biggest honour you can get as a player. I am so thankful for that. It is a huge honour.”
Kiprusoff’s number was retired prior to a Flames game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Current Penguin players that Kiprusoff played against included Sidney Crosby, Jeff Carter, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. Unfortunately, none of the four Penguins players were available to the media after the game following a third period collapse which saw them lose 4-3 in regulation to the Flames after having a 3-1 third period lead.
Current Flames captain Mikael Backlund played with Kiprusoff during his time in Calgary.
When I asked Backlund about his memories of playing with Kiprusoff, Backlund recalled how both he and Kiprusoff had similar knee injuries at the same time.
“When Noodles (former Flames backup goaltender Jamie McLennan) did his speech there, you could see a lot of Kiprusoff’s big saves (on the Jumbotron). We were hurt (during) the lockout year (of 2012-13) at the same time. Mine was slightly worse but same type. We came in every day. Kipper would be in the gym stretching. Our trainers would be working with the injured players. I was bagged. They put me through rehab stuff, workout, cardio and really hard on the ice. Kipper was in there stretching.”
While as a Flame, Kiprusoff was recognized as “a man of few words.” On this night at the Saddledome, Kiprusoff did an excellent job with
It means a lot. This is the biggest honour you can get as a player. I am so thankful for that. It is a huge honour.
his speech, and his English has come a long way. He has credited his son in helping him with the English language.
During the ceremony it was also announced that Kiprusoff would make a significant charitable contribution. He is set to donate $34,000 to Calgary Minor Hockey. Twelve minor hockey goaltenders from each minor hockey organization in Calgary were included as part of the on-ice ceremony.
Kiprusoff was recognized by his teammates for having a good time. On one night in Nashville, Flames veteran forward Olli Jokinen took Backlund aside and told him, that “whatever Kipper drinks, you drink.” After consuming Tequila, Backlund spent the rest of the evening in his hotel room washroom.
Another time the Flames had played in Vancouver the night before, and Kiprusoff was late arriving for the team bus the next morning. A few minutes after the bus was supposed to leave, a private helicopter landed in the parking lot. The private helicopter belonged to Nickleback and out walked Kiprusoff.
There is no doubt that there is a special bond between Kiprusoff and Sutter. Like Kiprusoff, Sutter did not speak a lot to the media either but there was a clear admiration for one another.
“He means a lot,” said Kiprusoff. “I learned a lot from him. He coached me in San Jose and then traded for me (when Sutter came to Calgary). He taught me what it took to be a starting goalie.”
Kiprusoff was not just a starting goalie but one of the greatest ever. The Finnish legend had an incredible skill of stopping pucks in front of Calgary Flames fans for over a decade!
We have done book reviews for Calgary Hockey Magazine before. The list includes Playing with Fire by Theoren Fleury and Kristie McLellan Day; If these Walls Could Talk by Peter Maher and George Johnson; and Bearcat Murray: From Ol’Potlicker to Calgary Flames Legend by Bearcat Murray and Johnson. This spring, there is another intriguing book that will appear on the bookshelves throughout the city. On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Calgary Flames at the NHL Draft is the newest offer on the Calgary Flames, written by Ryan Pike of Flames nation and takes a look at the history of the Calgary Flames at the NHL draft.
We promise not to give away many of the most fascinating storylines! Our focus here is to encourage hockey fans across Calgary to read the book themselves. That said, the beginning of the book is riveting and includes a number of intriguing stories about the Atlanta Flames that neither I nor Ryan knew until he began his research. They include a trade that involved multiple leagues from multiple different sports and the time the Flames management accidentally drafted the wrong player.
The fact that Ryan was given a chance to write this story for Triumph Books has significant meaning to him.
“It was really exciting,” said Pike. “I grew up in Calgary as someone who was a fan of the hockey club. My dad was an original season ticket holder when the Calgary Flames moved here from Atlanta in 1980. He was a Calgary Wranglers season ticket holder (when the Wranglers were part of the Western Hockey League), so when the Flames moved here, the Wranglers got the first crack at seasons tickets at the Corral.
As long as I can remember, we would always be talking about the Flames around the house. It was really cool and a lot of fun.”
How Ryan started writing On the Clock is also interesting. Scott Wheeler, of The Athletic, had written a similar book about the Toronto Maple Leafs and Allan Mitchell had written a similar book about the Edmonton Oilers.
“When Scott announced on social media that he came out with his book, I thought, ‘Wow…this is pretty cool,’” recalled Pike. “I reached out to someone I knew at Triumph. I was curious, and asked, ‘Whose book am I going to be reading about for Calgary?’ I just figured they had someone to do it. They turned around to me and asked, ‘Do you want to do it?’ I was not prepared for that question.”
While he was excited about the idea, Pike says he also found the idea a little intimidating.
“A lot of us write exclusively on the Internet. There is a certain amount of impermanence to the Internet. At some point someone can just turn off a computer server and the Internet goes away. You do not have much to show for your work. I think it is going to be surreal to have a physical thing to look at,” he said.
From a personal perspective, I have now been with Calgary Hockey Magazine for 15 years. I understand where Ryan is coming from. If the Internet were to all of a sudden shut down, I would go wild because I have thousands of contributions on the World Wide Web.
However, there is something special about having your work read by thousands of hockey fans every year from a tangible medium like Calgary Hockey Magazine.
One trend throughout Calgary Flames history is that they have had incredible fortune with selecting successful players in the later rounds. The list includes Gary Suter, Theoren Fleury, Johnny Gaudreau, Sergei
Makarov, Hakan Loob, Brett Hull, and Jiri Hrdina. Did the Flames management get lucky or was it a calculated risk?
“I think if you ask them, they would say it was a little bit of both,” said Pike. “When I talked to Brad Treliving about this, he said there were a certain amount of guys with flaws. Before a lot of teams dived into Europe, the Flames tested the waters a bit with late round picks.”
The Flames also have had a history of looking at the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) for talent. Among the successful picks here include Joe Nieuwendyk, Suter, and Gaudreau, who was committed to playing college hockey at the time he was selected by the Flames. Pike talks at great length about how the Flames have not been afraid to go outside the traditional hockey box of the Canadian Hockey League to look for players they need.
There are two players Pike goes into significant detail with who passed away before they had the chance to join the Flames. The stories of these two hockey prospects drafted by the club are heart wrenching as they died at the ages of 18 and 19 years old.
Pike also spoke to several Flames general managers. One former Flames GM who continues to have a sharp mind is 88-year-old Cliff Fletcher, who remarkably continues to work in the NHL as a senior advisor to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
You might also make the comparison between Ryan Pike and George Orwell. Yes, Pike has one chapter titled, “1984: The Best Flames Draft Class Ever.” Forty-years ago (one year before I remember watching hockey on a nightly basis) the Flames drafted Gary Roberts, Hull, Hrdina, Paul Ranheim and Suter all in the same draft.
Sometimes the Flames have not been able to draft much. In the 2000s, the Flames had limited number of draft picks. Why? Well, because Flames General Manager Darryl Sutter was of the opinion that they were close to winning the Stanley Cup. You could argue that they had an elite scorer in Jarome Iginla and a generational goaltender in Miikka Kiprusoff. Sutter’s approach was to trade draft picks to teams so they could win now. The problem is after reaching the 2004 Stanley Cup final, the Flames were unable to win a playoff round under Sutter. So, by the time Jay Feaster became the Flames general manager in 2011, they had limited draft picks left.
When it comes to what he is proudest of in his book, Pike says it is the chapter on the first Atlanta draft.
“You need to wrap your head around to how much of a sprint that was. I had the privilege to talk to Fletcher and other people in the front office about those days. Due to the fact the Omni Coliseum was not completed yet, they did all the paperwork from an ATCO trailer,” he said.
“Now a days, NHL clubs have so many resources at their disposal. Back then, when the Atlanta Flames were launched, they had a staff of four people, the size of the current Calgary Flames analytics staff. They launched an entire hockey organization with that number of people. It was amazing they got off to the start they did, but year after year, they found ways to be a little bit smarter and be a little bit better every year. They had half a season to scout, and hardly any scouts, and still had the chance to put together a competitive team.”
“
A lot of us write exclusively on the internet. There is a certain amount of impermanence to the Internet. At some point someone can just turn off a computer server and the internet goes away. You do not have much to show for your work. I think it is going to be surreal to have a physical thing to look at.
In assessing this season, Pike believes it is a good time to be a Calgary fan. The Flames have a significant number of draft picks but have not given up on the 2023-24 season yet. Flames management is under the opinion that they have the potential to still reach the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs. Pike also informed me that this will be the final year of a centralized draft. The draft is taking place in Las Vegas. As of 2026, the NHL draft will be more decentralized, as representatives will be working from all NHL cities rather than coming to one location and picking players in an arena setting.
“This is the last year of the old way of doing things,” he said. “It is going to be a little bit emotional for a lot of folks because the draft is essentially one of the few events of the year where everyone in hockey goes to the one city and gets to see each other.”
While the NHL draft will be different in the future, one thing will remain unchanged: For a select number of elite hockey prospects, they will have achieved their goal of moving a step closer to the NHL, while those who are not chosen will experience heartbreak. For those joining the Calgary Flames organization, it does not matter if you are drafted near the top or bottom, you will be getting a fair chance of playing in the NHL.
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It will be a very exciting spring in Calgary when it comes to international hockey. From May 4-12, the Markin MacPhail Centre in southwest Calgary will be hosting the 13th World Para Ice Hockey Championship.
This is the second consecutive year that Canada will host the event. It took place in Moose Jaw from May 28 to June 4, 2023. The United States won the gold medal as they defeated Canada in the final 6-1 in front of a crowd of 2,838 people at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
Team Canada won three of five games at the championship tournament last year. In Group A play Canada had a record of two wins and one loss. Canada clobbered South Korea 15-1 and narrowly beat Czechia 2-1, before being shutout 3-0 by the United States. By finishing in second place in Group A, Team Canada got a bye to the quarterfinals where Canada beat Czechia in a rematch 5-0. Then in the gold medal game, the United States beat Canada 6-1.
Three players on Team Canada were among the top 10 leaders in tournament scoring. All three players are from Ontario. Dominic Cozzolino (Kitchener) and Tyler McGregor (Forest) tied for third in scoring with 10 points each. Cozzolino had six goals and four assists, while McGregor had four goals and six assists. Meanwhile, Adam Dixon (Midland) was seventh in scoring with nine points (three goals and six assists).
You might recognize McGregor’s name. We featured him a year ago for Calgary Hockey Magazine. McGregor was travelling across Canada, sledge-skated 420 kilometres and raised $130,000 for the Terry Fox Foundation.
McGregor is looking forward to returning to Calgary.
“It’s really exciting,” he said. “We are thrilled to host in Canada again. WinSport is a beautiful facility and one we’re really familiar with. It’ll be an amazing week.”
The Markin MacPhail Centre is located on the west side of the WinSport campus.
The two biggest challenges for Team Canada at the World Para Ice Hockey Championship will be to defend American star Declan Farmer and to find a way to score on American goaltender Jen Lee. Farmer has won the gold medal for the United States at the last three Paralympic Winter Games and has won four gold medals at the World Para Ice Hockey Championship. He is also the American all-time leader in goals (154), assists (117), and points (271), and led the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games in assists (11) and points (18).
Lee, who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident in 2009, was absolutely sensational at the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing. He recorded three shutouts on the way to not giving up a goal with 33 saves in 165 minutes of action. Then at the 2023 World Para Ice Hockey Championship, Lee had a goals against average of 0.82.
Team Canada has won four gold medals in the history of the World Para Ice Hockey Championship. Canada’s titles came in 2000 in West Valley City, Utah; in 2008 in Marlborough, Massachusetts; in 2013 in Goyang, South Korea; and in 2017 in Gangneung, South Korea.
Brendon Gorrill was a young man that we lost too soon at the age of 18 in November of 2014. He was attending Mount Royal and planned to join the Calgary Police Service after getting a degree in Criminolgy and work along side his dad keeping the city of Calgary safe. He began to play the game of hockey in Timbits and played until he was in Junior C here in Calgary. When it was time to choose the position you wanted, we say the goalie position chose Brendon.
Brendon Gorrill loved the sport of hockey and played for the McKnight Mustangs for the majority of his hockey career until his passing. His strengths other than the love of the game was his sportsmanship and he gave 100% effort whether it was a practice or a game. When his team won he would credit his teammates with their outstanding play, and when they lost he would take the brunt of the blame. Every year his teammates were his best friends, often becoming friends for life. One thing that exemplifies his personality was the fact that every time he passed the opposing goalie, he would tap them on their pads with his stick as a sign of mutual respect.
When Brendon passed in 2014, his family along with Kevin Swanson of Goalie Development Institute, GDI, started to sponsor goalies to attend summer camps. Soon the family wanted to continue his legacy further and began the process of becoming a government registered charity. It wasn’t long until we we were able to help both goalies and skaters. By joining with Tuxedo Source for Sports, former Calgary Hitmen Connor Rankin’s Professional Hockey Development and of course GDI, we are able help families by covering hockey registration, equipment, and summer camps.
We have been able to help those families that struggle to find the extra funds to pay for extracurricular activities such as hockey. To this date we have been able to help 35 kids play the game Brendon loved so much, helping make his legacy live on. We do all our own fundraising through raffles, private donations, silent auctions, and Connor Rankin’s summer hockey tournament which is held in June every year.
Brendon believed in giving back and he displayed this by volunteering for many charities in and around Calgary. He would be so pleased to see that this charity is helping people but he would still want to help more so we continue to strive for more.
By going to the Brendon Gorrill Memorial Scholarship website, people are able apply for assistance, ask us any question, and to even donate.
