Calgary Flames 21 Days Until the Season Starts: #21 Andrew Ference

Only three weeks until the season starts! And next week is pre-season! I feel like screaming, I’m so excited. With 21 days left until the season starts, let’s take a look at a former Calgary Flames player with that number.

Since the start of August, we’re counting down the number of days left until the regular season starts up again! Every day until the start of the season, we’ll be talking about a Calgary Flames player whose number correlates with how many days there are left.

Last time we looked at a player who’s still quite young and is an important part of the Flames rebuild. And a guy who’s rather boring. That was #23 Sean Monahan.

Today, with 21 days until the season starts, let’s look at #21 Andrew Ference.

Who is Andrew Ference?

Name: Andrew Ference

Birth place: Edmonton, AB, Canada

Position: D

Shoots: Left

Birthdate: 1979-03-17

Height: 5’11” / 180 cm

Weight: 83 kg / 184 lbs

Drafted by: Pittsburgh Penguins, 208th overall 1997

Stats with all NHL teams, regular season:

Upon being drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins, Andrew Ference spent a couple of years in the WHL and the IHL before getting a chance with the pros in 1999. He spent the first two seasons with the Penguins split between the NHL and their AHL affiliate. However, in 2000-01, the second season where it was split between the NHL and the AHL, Ference had four goals and 15 points in 36 games and the Pens made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. He had 10 points in 18 playoff games that season.

Because of his performance that season, he had a full-time role with the Pens in 2001-02. But he didn’t quite live up to expectations.

He had the same amount of goals and fewer points (11) in more than twice as many games. In the middle of the 2002-03 season, having just one goal and four points in 22 games, he was traded to the Calgary Flames (yay).

The following season was exciting for the Flames. It was somewhat of their “Cinderella Story”. They unexpectedly made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals – the first time since 1989 – when they won their first and only cup in franchise history. That season, Ference had a career high of 16 points in 76 games and played in 26 playoff games. He had just three assists in the playoffs that year but was still averaging around 24 minutes a night.

The Calgary Flames lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Finals. And I’m still angry about it.

In 2005-06, Ference again got a career high with 31 points in 82 games. The following season in the middle of the season, the Calgary Flames decided that Ference wasn’t a great fit with them and he was traded to the Boston Bruins and stayed with them all the until 2013.

Now if you’ve been a hockey fan for some time, you probably remember that the Boston Bruins won the Cup in 2011. And since Andrew Ference was part of that team, he’s a Stanley Cup winner. In those playoffs, he had four goals and 10 points in 25 playoff games. But that’s not all he had.

He was also fined $2500 for an “obscene gesture” to the fans at the Bell Center during the first round against a long time Bruins foe – the Montreal Canadiens.

Here’s a clip of it, but if you’re like ten years old, don’t watch this.

During the finals against the Vancouver Canucks, the Canucks were up in the series 2-0. In Game 3, Andrew Ference opened up the scoring early in the second period and they beat the Canucks that game 8-1. They also beat them in game 7. Only four other teams have ever overcome a 2-0 deficit in the finals to win the Stanley Cup.

They somewhat credited that goal early in the second period as the goal that turned this series around for the Bruins and that eventually led them to a Stanley Cup victory.

In 2013 as a free agent, Andrew Ference signed with his hometown team, the Edmonton Oilers. And a surprise to some people, but he was also named the captain.

In 2014, Ference was the recipient of the King Clancy trophy. A trophy awarded to a player who shows leadership and humanitarian contribution. Ference spent much of his free time working with projects to improve the planet’s eco-system and help to make people more eco-friendly.

Not only that, but he spent a lot of work in the community and donated some of his own money as well as helped raise money to help people suffering from homelessness. He does a lot more, and all that he does can be found here. But his humanitarian work didn’t just spur out of nowhere. In fact, he had been investing his time in it for decades. Before he was even in the NHL.

In 1999, he was the WHL’s humanitarian recipient of the year, the Doug Wickenheiser Trophy.

In 2015-16, Ference was put on IR very early in the season because he required hip surgery. He announced his retirement before the following season started.

Next: Don't worry Flames fans, Ken King's simply using strategy

In a 16-year long career, Andrew Ference established himself around the league as a solid defenseman with lots of grit to his game, who isn’t afraid to get a few punches here and there, and who immensely cares about the environment and his community.

Oh, and it also helps that he has a Stanley Cup to his name.

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