Detroit Red Wings legend, Steve Yzerman, scores goal number 692 (which would be his last before officially retiring months later). Martin Scorsese's film, The Departed, is released on the big screen and NBC's 30 Rock debuts on the smaller one. The iPhone is one year away from being released to the public. And finally, my car was stolen, I was working at Disneyland, and was a hell of a lot fatter.
What do these things have in common with the Calgary Flames?
It's simple: that would be the year that the Flames would last win a game in Anaheim, and that year happened to be 2006.
The Calgary Flames were looking to change the fact that it had been nine years since winning a game against the Ducks inside their beloved barn located in Anaheim. Since that series in round one of the 2005-2006 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, Calgary has come up empty handed when leaving what is now known as the Honda Center, and after games one and two of this years second round, nothing's changed. In game one, Jonas Hiller was called to be the starter against the team he played with for 7 years. Hiller seemed to be excited, he appeared ready for absolute revenge. To show the team that they made a mistake not re-signing him after one could arguably described to as "did him dirty" at the end of his last season. Hiller was motivated.
Hiller...
Well, good ol' Jonas was chased by that former team after he let in 3 goals on 14 shots in the opening game, with Kari Ramo replacing him - so much for sweet revenge. Anaheim would go on to score 3 more goals, conceding 1 flukey goal mid-way through the third period. Final score of game one: 6-1.
As I sat in my seat, fortifying the impression of my bum to the cushion, I came to the conclusion of, "Ok. Ducks are going to win, but man, this is muy ridiculoso".
I then wondered what would come of game two. Surely, a walloping like that wouldn't happen again. Or would it?
Prior to that second game, Calgary's bench lord (Bob Hartley), announced that it would be Ramo in net (who plays an aggressive style which differs from Hiller). He challenges players, but his weakness is that he sacrifices the space behind the net making it easier for players on the opposite side to score. Ramo would make better saves on great scoring chances in the first period of game two. It's easy to say that if he hadn't, the first 20 mins would have ended with his team losing about 0-3, but it would end 0-1 with Anaheim only taking seven and a half minutes to open the scoring. In game two, a better Calgary team appeared, but couldn't muster up enough offense to get one past Frandersen. The Ducks would score two more in the third, and Freddy would stand tall getting the shutout. Final score of game two: 3-0.
With Anaheim up two games, the series now swings to Calgary with the Flames hoping to turn it around and finally win a game or two where the Red Mile lives. The Calgary players have stated that they're looking forward to playing at home because they can thrive off the home crowd who will be there cheering them on loud and proud. Hmm, where have I heard that before in this playoff season? I'm drawing a blank. It's like I'm suddenly seeing "white", I'm having a hard time remembering, blasted old age! Either way, Anaheim will hope to take the Calgarians out of it and shut them up. It can be done, the Ducks just have to do it. They had better because if they don't, I'm gonna have to be a terrible son and leave my mom stranded at some restaurant while I watch game 5 which happens to land on Mother's Day (if necessary).
My inquiry is this: Kiprusoff gonna come out of retirement or will tops stay on? We'll see just how desperate the Calgary Flaming Wee-Wees will be.
Go Ducks!
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