Tomorrow just might
be April Fool's day, but
one can feel confident,
it's no joke, the Flames
are in the playoffs.
Peter Maher, Fan
960's long time patriarch
shrieked the infamous
"Yeah Baby" on
the radio tonight, a
scream that reflects
back on a better Flame
time when making the
playoffs was given, and
thought of the Cup
danced gingerly in one's
mind.
Mr. Maher may have
bounced around from 810
t0 660 to 960 on your
dial, but never has his proclamation
of Flame satisfaction
meant more then in
beating the Phoenix
Coyotes and clinching
the club's first playoff
birth since 1996.
Quite simply the
Flames are in.
A brief and simple
statement that seemed
almost fairly tail like
just months ago but are
very much reality with
the results of tonight's
game.
If the playoffs were
to start tonight the
Canadian Broadcasting Company
would have their western
dream match up with the
Calgary Flames facing
off against the
Vancouver Canucks.
Think Jim Peplinski
banking a puck of Joel
Otto's skate to win the
1989 first round series
or Pavel Bure going
east, west, east and a
little west again to
freeze Mike Vernon and
take the 1994 first
round matchup, a series
that saw the Canucks win
three straight overtime
games to win the
contest.
Any matchup is
possible at this points
with a few games left to
play, but make no
mistake about it ... the
Flames are in.
The Flames played a
solid home game at the
Saddledome tonight,
carrying the play for
the most part despite
the tooth and nail low
scoring final.
"It has been a
long time, let's be
honest," said
Jarome Iginla, "it
feels awesome, we've
worked very hard this
season."
"This is our
first goal -- now we
prepare for the
playoffs."
Mr. Iginla opened the
scoring in the first
period when he got a
piece of a Robyn Regehr
centering attempt on a
first period powerplay.
From there the home
side had the best of the
chances but came up
empty against the
stellar goaltending of
Brent Johnson.
The Coyotes pressed
in the third but were
unable to beat Miikka
Kiprusoff, who came up
with at least three or
four game saving stops.
The Saddledome crowd
was boisterously
appreciative of the
Flames ability to jump
back into the playoffs,
driving home their
affection in standing
ovation after standing
ovation in the last few
minutes.
The city was starved
for success, and with
momentum at a high not
seen since the mid 80's
in Calgary, it will be
fun to see a whole new
generation catch the
fever that many of us
grew up with.
Have at her!
