Frommer's Review
True to its Canadian-ness, Calgary loves its Flames, the city's entry in the big-league National Hockey League, with almost religious passion. The Flames moved to Calgary from Atlanta in 1980, and the intervening decades have seen a lot of ups and downs. The undoubted high point came in 1989, when the Flames won their one-and-only Stanley Cup, the NHL's championship. Big things were expected in the years that followed -- fans spoke shamelessly about a "dynasty" regarding this powerhouse team -- but it wasn't to be. The '90s saw the once-mighty Flames dwindle in power to the point where, by 2003, they had missed the playoffs for seven straight seasons. An improbable turnaround in 2004 saw the Flames make a Cinderella run all the way to the Stanley Cup finals, only to lose to the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games. But the city's love affair with the team had been re-kindled; it was expressed most mightily on 17th Ave. SW -- re-dubbed "The Red Mile" -- during those 2004 playoffs, where thousands of fans would crowd the streets, immobilizing traffic as they celebrated (police took to closing the street to vehicles on game nights). Recent years have not been as kind to the Flames, who have made the playoffs every season only to lose in the first round. But hope springs eternal, and the passion for a generation of fans has been renewed; after many years of church-silent crowds, the Saddledome is now one of the loudest in the league.
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