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2016 has been quite the year. Not just for Calgary Flames fans, but for everyone. Let’s see the top five weirdest moments of this year.
Good afternoon Calgary Flames fans! 2016 is done and it’s time to wrap the year up! 2016 wasn’t exactly the best of years for the Flames. However, they seemed to be turning that around a little bit as of late.
A lot of weird things happened last year. Just like any year in any sport with any team.
And just like the good Flames fan that I am, I narrowed down the top five weirdest things that happened in 2016.
5. Gaudreau, Monahan, and Bouma scratched
‘Twas the day after the Super Bowl. Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, and Lance Bouma were all healthy scratches for the game this day. This was weird for everyone to hear since Gaudreau and Monahan are two of the top Calgary Flames players.
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Everyone was kind of freaking out a little bit. Like, oh no, we don’t have Gaudreau and Monahan? It was a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, which the Flames still thankfully won.
That day, they had a morning skate at 10:30 am. They got there at 10:15 am. So needless to say, Bob Hartley wasn’t exactly the happiest coach that day. Bouma left the ice 15 minutes into practice because he was “ill”. Oh so that’s what they’re calling it, hey?
I mean, it was the day after the Super Bowl. And when you get a group of guys watching one of the biggest sporting events of the year together, there’s bound to be a lot of drinking involved. But hey, it happens to the best of us, right? You drink a lot, you go to work the next morning hungover. But in this case, the entire hockey world found out.
Practice lasted only 25 minutes and Hartley left the ice mad. All the players mentioned how he wasn’t very pleased with his team that day. It was a bold move by Hartley, because as much as he wanted to get a message across which I completely agree with, he was benching two of the Flames top scorers. And this was at a time where the Flames really couldn’t afford to lose any games.
At first, all the Flames released was that they were healthy scratches. Then the management later revealed they were late and how Bouma was throwing up. And with the Super Bowl being the night before, people put two and two together.
This was just a weird day in general. But the guys definitely heard the message Hartley was sending.
4. Vancouver scoring on their own net
Whenever something goes wrong for a rival team, I get so happy. I’m pretty sure I gain a year on my life every time something weird happens to another team.
This was in the Calgary Flames third game this season. It was against the Vancouver Canucks and it was in Vancouver. The Flames had a delayed penalty, so the Canucks did what any team would do, and they took out their goalie for the extra attacker.
But that doesn’t always go in favor of the team. The Calgary Flames know this from first-hand experience.
Two years ago in December of 2014, the Flames took out their goalie for an extra attacker, also during a delayed penalty call. And who were they against? Well it was none other than the Vancouver Canucks! That’s what makes this especially weird. Two year later after that incident, the Canucks score on their own net also on a delayed penalty call. In the same building. With the same commentators.
What’s also funny is that this was Loui Eriksson‘s debut as a Canuck. Loui, Vancouver brought you to score goals! On the right net!
But, the sad thing is that the Flames still managed to lose both games (boo). Oh well, life goes on.
3. The fly
THE FLY. This was in the Calgary Flames second game of the season against the Edmonton Oilers. And honestly, EVERYBODY freaked out over a fly. It randomly came onto the screen and I jumped in my seat.
I actually wrote an entire article about this fly mishap here:
At first, I thought this fly may have been on my TV screen and that’s mainly why I jumped because this thing looked HUGE. But then I’m getting texts yelling “THE FLY” and my Twitter feed is going nuts. So I thought, “Ah. It’s on the camera lens. That makes sense about why it looks massive.”
Somebody even made a Twitter account for this fly because, you know, it’s the internet.
It is I, Saddledome Fly. #EDMvsCGY #Oilers #flames
— SaddledomeFly (@saddledomefly) October 15, 2016
It was just a funny/weird/terrifying moment. Even the official Oilers account made a tweet about it. And the official NHL account.
Will the Saddledome Fly ever return to be with us again? We can’t say for sure. But I will always remember him in my heart.
2. Lucky bounces vs the Colorado Avalanche
This actually happened near the end of 2016. On December 27th, the Calgary Flames ended their 2016 road trip in Denver when they faced the Colorado Avalanche.
The first period started off pretty quiet for the Flames. Even though they had many chances, the Avs’ goaltender, Calvin Pickard, was on top of his game that night. And because of this, the Avalanche made the score 1-0 through the first 20 minutes.
But then the second period came and I don’t know what happened. I don’t know if the Hockey Gods, man I hate that term, but I’m not sure if they felt bad for the Flames or something. But every lucky thing was happening for the team that night.
They had not one, not two, but four lucky bounces that all bounced off the Avs’ players and went into their net. Which made the score 4-2 Flames through the 40 minutes of play.
I’m telling you, the Flames NEVER get that lucky. If they even get one lucky bounce in a game, I’ll consider that a miracle. The last time they were that lucky was when Steve Smith scored on his own net during the playoffs against Calgary and gave them the 3-2 series lead which they went on and won the series.
Let’s hope that in 2017, the Flames get four lucky bounces every game. I mean, unlikely, but one can hope. 2017 is the year of hope. Also the year for the Flames to win the cup when they make that big trade on trade deadline day and acquire Jarome Iginla.
Again, I said 2017 is the year of hope.
1. Wideman cross-checking a ref
Everybody and their mother knows this infamous story. Dennis Wideman of the Calgary Flames cross-checked a ref and was suspended 20 games. But let’s look at this story again. What really happened?
Yes, that hit looks bad. But if we take a closer look, we can see that Wideman got checked hard into the boards before that cross check. After the game when the media interviewed Wideman, he claimed he wasn’t even aware that the ref was down and that of course, it was purely unintentional.
After, it was determined that Wideman had actually suffered a concussion during that hit on the boards, so he could have very well been telling the truth. The league suspended him 20 games, but he did suffer a concussion as well, so it’s not like he would have even been able to play.
The NHLPA did come to Wideman’s defence and applied for an appeal, because this is just further proof about how the NHL has always been bad at dealing with head injuries.
Via NHL.com:
“We strongly disagree with the League’s decision to suspend Dennis Wideman,” the NHLPA said in a statement. “Dennis has played in 11 NHL seasons and almost 800 games without incident. The facts, including the medical evidence presented at the hearing, clearly demonstrate that Dennis had no intention to make contact with the linesman. An appeal has been filed on the player’s behalf.”
However, as much as that whole incident was weird, what’s even weirder is what’s happening after. Many people seem to think that now the officials have some sort of target on the Calgary Flames.
From the start of the 2014-2015 season until that hit on January 27th, the Flames were third last for PIM, second last in penalties, and last in minor penalties in the entire league.
However, since that incident, the Flames are third in the league for PIM and penalties and first for minor penalties.
I even remember one game where, after the whole suspension when the fans were seeing an unusual amount of penalties against the Flames. Then in one game, what looked like should have been a tripping penalty on the opposing team ended up being a diving penalty on the Flames. Even Kelly Hrudey, one of the Flames commentators, said “Wow, THAT’S a diving penalty? I don’t like talking about the officials, but there have been some weird calls against the Flames lately.”
Was there intent on Wideman’s cross check? Is there bias against the Flames now? We’ll never truly know.
Well, there you have it. The top five weirdest moments of 2016. Let’s hope that in 2017, we still see some fun/weird moments. Just, you know, no cross-checking refs.
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