"The Sea of Plain T-Shirts"

All of a sudden I'm certain I must be hearing things. I lean in, closer to the crowd off to my right. It IS what I'm hearing! "GO FLAMES GO! GO FLAMES GO!" So we start on with the chant but of course before long we're drowned out by the home teams following. Regardless, it showed a lot of pride and I can safely say that I enjoyed this particular game more than any other I've been to here in Vancouver. Even with the Flames losing 4-1 against our rival Canucks, we had fantastic seats in the lower bowl and only got into one argument with a plain t-shirted fellow that had no idea what he was talking about. Of course I would say that, defending myself and my team, however even the Canucks fans surrounding us were not interested in listening to his ridiculous banter and weren't afraid to say so. I'm positive that he wasn't happy with this turn around because once he realized he was on his own, with the exception of his buddy he was sitting with, he held his tongue.

I don't mind a little poking and teasing, I can take it and I can dish it, but this guy was red in the face! I didn't start anything, in fact we'd made nice with all of the fans beside and behind us already. There was teasing, but there was also introductions, hand shakes and laughs shared by everyone. Mr. Down the Way was the only exception to the friendly and happy time we enjoyed at Tuesday night's game. I can't recall exactly what he said to us, but something along the lines that wearing our Jersey's made us American. It's an American thing to do if you wear your own team's paraphernalia?! (We may or may not have asked him not to talk to us anymore if he wasn't wearing a jersey.) As I've stated in my previous posts, we're not here to be your enemy, we're here to enjoy the game! If you care as much as we do, we don't care who you cheer for! We'll leave you alone if you respect us in the same manor, however I'm not afraid to stand up for myself if need be. It's people like Mr. Down the Way that irritate me just for their ignorance. It's a hockey game, buddy, calm down!

Unfortunately we lost the game that we fought so hard for and deserved to win. We worked hard and outplayed Vancouver the majority of the night. I had to laugh after one of the Canucks goals were scored. My partner in crime screams at the crowd, "Why are you booing your OWN TEAM". It was her first Calgary game away from home and I remember mine very well. An entire stadium, of course minus the Flames Fans in attendance, were cheering for Luongo. "LUUUUUUUU" sounds a lot like "BOOOOOOOO". I let her yell and then leaned over and explained. We had a laugh of a lifetime right there. Nobody else corrected her, I'm sure they thought we were ridiculous! We finished our beers and watched the rest of the game occasionally laughing with the kids behind us and then off we went on a mission.

A large group of Away Jerseys were out back when we left GM Place. Everyone seemed like they had just as great a time as we did even with the lack of a win we needed for an Ego boost. I'm not sure what the contest was, but Calgary Fans were flown into Vancouver with tickets to Tuesday's game, and set up at the Hyatt downtown! It almost, and I do stress "almost", felt like being home after a game. I had a wonderful chat with the nicest gal and her hubby and she told me all about this lucky opportunity. I was just as happy they were there!

Back to the task at hand. We're two games away from starting the Playoffs and those last two games are against the Edmonton Oilers. I've said this a couple of times already to a few different people and it's true. Edmonton is desperate. They're dangerous when they're desperate, who isn't? One of those games is at home and one three hours north...

GO FLAMES!

T