Embers at the Memorial Cup

While the NHL playoffs are mostly just reminding Flames fans of players who got away, the Memorial Cup (Canada’s championship for its three 20-and-under junior leagues, for those who don’t know it) is highlighting a few assets the Flames are well-served to hang onto.

The biggest – from a financial standpoint, anyway – is the Calgary Hitmen, the city’s junior team that the Flames were smart enough to purchase in 1997.  The Hitmen are one of the biggest draws in junior hockey, and their deep run in the Western Hockey League playoffs – culminating in the league championship and a trip to the Memorial Cup tournament in Brandon, Manitoba – routinely put 10,000 ticket-and-beer-buying bums in Saddledome seats at a time when the NHL club had already vacated the building for the summer.

The Hitmen’s longtime GM is Kelly Kisio – a junior legend in Calgary with the defunct Wranglers back in the late 1970s who had a productive 13-year NHL career with Detroit, the New York Rangers, San Jose and Calgary. He has a reputation as a stand-up guy and a leader, with a knack for teaching young players and a sharp eye for talent. The Hitmen have been consistent winners throughout his tenure, thanks in no small part to outstanding scouting that keeps the team consistently stocked with the deepest talent in the WHL.

Rumblings are that Kisio may soon be up for a promotion to the NHL team – possibily as assistant GM under Darryl Sutter. If Flames/Hitmen president Ken King were to make that move, the message contained in it would be none too subtle to Mr. Sutter: There’s a guy waiting in the wings for your job, you could be replaced in the amount of time it takes you to leave your office to take a piss, so smarten up and fly right.

(Stay tuned for Part II of the Memorial Cup Embers report – on Flames prospect Greg Nemisz.)