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The last time the Oilers and the Flames faced off in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Don Getty was Alberta’s premier, Woodward’s was still open in West Edmonton Mall, and Edmontonians were still risking their lives driving through the Downtown tunnel known as the Rat Hole.
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But Edmonton and Calgary’s hockey rivalry hasn’t changed since the last true NHL Battle of Alberta in 1991.
Back then, Edmonton and Calgary mayors Jan Reimer and Al Duerr made a wager: the mayor of the vanquished city would ride a zamboni onto rival ice, wearing a sweater from the winning team for peak hockey-town humiliation.
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A few weeks later, after the Oilers scored a winning overtime goal in Game 7, Calgary Mayor Duerr entered the Northlands Coliseum — still years away from being renamed Skyreach Center and, eventually, Rexall Place — to endure his public shaming. Decked out in an Oilers sweater, he yelled, “I look terrible in these colours!”
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Three decades later, the mayoral bet is back on. On Monday, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek issued this year’s challenge to Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi: City councilors from the losing city will attend the first council meeting after the series in rival team jerseys, and the mayor will sport full face paint “celebrating” the opposing team.
“I’m confident that I will not be donning orange and blue paint,” Gondek said. “I’m very much looking forward to seeing Mayor Sohi wearing the Flames ‘C’ on his face of him.”
Sohi, who was traveling Monday, issued his own vote of confidence in his team.
“I will be cheering on the Oilers every step of the way, and will happily send Mayor Gondek well wishes when the Oilers beat the Flames and move forward in the playoffs,” he said.
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“Go Oilers go!”
The losing city will also donate to either Kids with Cancer Society in Edmonton or Kids Cancer Care in Calgary. The donation will be in recognition of Ben Stelter, the five-year-old Oilers fan living with brain cancer.
“Ben has been incredibly brave in this past year, and all hockey fans are cheering him on,” Gondek said.
When it comes to Battle of Alberta matchups, Edmonton has a better record. The Oilers came out on top in four of the five NHL playoff matchups they’ve had with the Flames, with Calgary’s sole victory in 1986.
That year, former Edmonton mayor Lawrence Decore had to ascend what was then called the Petro-Canada Building — the tallest tower in Calgary at the time — in a Flames jersey.
Two years later, the Oilers swept the Flames 4-0 and then-Calgary mayor Ralph Klein was forced to proclaim Edmonton as “Alberta’s only Flame-proof city.”
It remains to be seen what’s in store for Battle of Alberta number six.
The first game of the Oilers vs. Flames series will start at 8:30 pm Wednesday at Calgary’s Scotiabank Saddledome.
More to eat…
—With files from Jason Herring
Twitter: @meksmith