SATURDAY JANUARY 7: VANCOUVER CANUCKS AT CALGARY FLAMES
You all knew this was inevitable. The Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks have this ultimate rivalry that even seems more prominent in this day than the Battle of Alberta. If you grew up a Flames fan, you probably have this deep built in hatred for the Canucks. You might not even be able to explain why you have it, you just do.
Again like the game against Anaheim, I couldn’t quite decide which game to put. I knew it was going to be a home game but there are still a few options to choose from. After talking with some friends, they all said to do it on Saturday night. Of course, how could I forget Saturday night, aka Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC) aka Coach’s Corner. If you’re a Canadian hockey fan, or just a hockey fan in general, or just a Canadian in general, then you probably have a strong idea on who Don Cherry is. Every Saturday night, him and Ron MacLean host HNIC, except it’s not really hosting. It’s just Don interrupting Ron and pronouncing every player’s name wrong.
And what better way to spend a Saturday night watching HNIC than with a fun rivalry between the Flames and the Canucks. There was of course that infamous brawl in 2014 that happened two seconds into the game and resulted in 113 penalty minutes. In two seconds. It even resulted in Flames head coach at the time, Bob Hartley, getting a $25,000 fine, and Canucks head coach at the time, John Tortorella, getting a suspension. I mean, you know a rivalry is truly intense when even the coaches get involved. And hey, I guess I was wrong when I gave that spoiler alert. Looks like I did end up mentioning Torts.