Canadian Superstars rally around Flames in spite of team’s loss
by Phil Speer
June 11, 2004

Just over the past few days, finally, things have calmed down enough in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for Lance Storm to drive in the downtown area.

Up until very recently, Storm said, “You’d spend several hours to go blocks because you’d have 20,000 people on 17th Avenue.”

The reason for that, of course, is because 17th Avenue SW is home to the Pengrowth Saddledome and the Calgary Flames, who lost the Stanley Cup finals to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a thrilling seven-game series.

Although fans in Calgary are disappointed that the Cup did not “come home” to Canada, the Flames’ run through the playoffs was an unbelievable ride for the city and country, as well as for several WWE Superstars who hail from Canada.

“I’m not a hockey fan at all, but I can’t help but get caught up with it,” Storm said. “You just can’t go anywhere. Every business has ‘Go Flames Go’ up on their billboards and their signs. … At my daughter’s school, there are several classes that are completely done up in red.”

The celebration, it seems, is about more than just hockey.

“It’s just a national pride thing,” Trish Stratus said. “Hockey is Canada’s game. To bring the Cup home to Canada is where we feel it rightfully belongs.”

Stratus, born and bred in Toronto and a fan of the city’s Maple Leafs, was rooting for the Leafs. Like many (or most) Canadians, she jumped on the Flames’ bandwagon once her team was eliminated from the playoffs. “But as a Canadian I’m allowed to,” she said.

Stratus isn’t the only one who jumped on the bandwagon. According to Storm, even though the celebration was especially pronounced in Calgary – where you could walk down any street on game day and hear the play call, because the TV was literally on in every house -- fans throughout the country were rooting for the Flames so vehemently that they might as well have been called the “Canadian Flames.”

“We don’t have a lot as Canadians – we have our beer, we have our hockey and so forth – so the fact that a Canadian team is back in the finals after 10 years (is huge),” he said.

Plus, the entire country is something of a melting pot, Stratus said. “That’s what we pride ourselves on … being one,” she said, adding, “I always say I have a hometown that’s a country because everywhere I go, I always get a hometown reception.”

The countrywide celebration over the Flames is also due in part to economic factors.

While hockey is “Canada’s game,” it had been 10 years since one of the country’s teams reached the Stanley Cup finals.

Part of the reason for that is because while many NHL players are of Canadian origin, there are only six Canada-based teams left in the league. The other 24 are based in the U.S.

And most of the teams in Canada – a country of just over 30 million, roughly the same population as California – are in relatively small markets and cannot afford the big-name, big-salaried players that many American teams can. Exchange rates to not work in their favor, either.

“Calgary is basically a small-market team,” Christian said. “It means a lot, especially for hockey in Canada. A lot of teams are wanting to close down and move to the U.S.”

Franchises based in Quebec City and Winnipeg have done just that. Those remaining in Canada struggle financially.

“Calgary hadn’t even made the playoffs” in previous years, Stratus said. “It’s small-market team making it big … It shows a lot of determination on the part of the players.”

Christian adds, however, that the Flames vs. Lightning series wasn’t as simple as “U.S. vs. Canada.”

“It’s funny because there are more Canadians on Tampa Bay than there are on Calgary,” he said.

Christian, a native of Toronto now living in Tampa Bay, says the Maple Leafs are still his No. 1 team, but once they were eliminated, he was torn between Calgary and the Lightning, whose games he often attends. Ultimately, Christian said, he just wanted an exciting playoff series, and he got exactly what he asked for. “This year’s playoffs have probably been the best playoffs in years,” he said. “So exciting. Good games.”

The Calgary craziness has carried over to WWE, particularly among the Canadian Superstars. It’s similar to 2002 – when Team Canada won the Olympic gold medal in hockey. Back then, Chris Jericho proudly wore his Team Canada jersey, and Stratus was often seem clad in various Canadian paraphernalia.

These days, Jericho often wears the custom-made Flames jersey that he was given. When Jericho and his band, Fozzy, performed in Calgary on the same night as a playoff game, they made sure the game was put on – and they’d cheer when the Flames scored.

“I made this joke the other day,” Stratus said. “I said the only way Chris Jericho and I would ever make up again is if he offered me a ticket to the Stanley Cup finals.

Even though the Flames did not win the Cup, the city and country are no doubt still proud of them. WWE’s Canadian Superstars certainly are.

Credit: WWE.com