If you were a hockey fan in Alberta during the early 80’s you were fortunate enough to witness one of the fiercest, brutal, exciting and memorable rivalries in the sport.
The Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames were fledgling franchises in the NHL with the Flames a bit older after having started in Atlanta. The Oilers setting up shop after years in the WHA.
It didn’t take long for these natural enemies to set the bar for what will always be referred to as the Battle of Alberta. We as fans had some pretty good seats but sports journalist Mark Spector had a front row chair to this while working in Edmonton.
“I had never written and book and this is my first. I knew where all the bodies were buried in the Battle of Alberta and I had the phone numbers,” said Spector as he was signing copies of his book, aptly named “The Battle of Alberta” at the Red Deer Chapters outlet. “I also sensed that 30 years later there’s a bit of a statute of limitations on these stories.”
Many of us saw the front line skirmishes on the ice but Spector was privy to the behind the scenes action which precipitated these confrontations which fans in Alberta expected to happen as soon as the puck dropped.
He started to piece this together in the spring of 2014 and ten months later he had a book.
He was able to cover players like Messier, Kurri, Gretzky, Fleury, Otto, Hunter, Semenko , etc. and because of his work with the Edmonton Journal it was easy enough to talk to these players to get to the root of the legendary battles. It was simply a matter of turning on the tape recorder and get out of the way, he said.
“The thing we know in sports and all men can relate to this, is we all love talking about our glory days,” said Spector. “For every one of these guys this was truly the prime of their career, the most important games they played, lots of Stanley Cups. When they look back, if every one of those guys wrote their own book the games between Edmonton and Calgary would be the key chapters for them.”
Over the years the provincial battle has become somewhat diluted and Spector says there are so many reasons for the change in temperature when these two teams get on the ice. One explanation is the Flames and Oilers aren’t playing for the same thing these days, he said.
“Whoever was going to come out of Edmonton or Calgary was going to the Stanley Cup. For eight straight years they went to the Stanley Cup final. So clearly, even in the second round of the playoffs they were playing for the Stanley Cup final.”
Another factor for the change between the Oilers and Flames has been how the game is played and the degree of violence and mayhem on the ice has dropped off which is probably a good thing, he said.
“They don’t beat each other’s brains in or spear each other, five on five’s (fights) we had back then. But what that gave you was a level of emotion and hatred that doesn’t exist today. Messier flew around elbowing guys in a fashion that would have had him suspended forever today but back then it just caused someone on the other team to do something just as dumb. It made for great theatre and it might have been violent hockey, injurious hockey but it was damn exciting every night.”
During the 80’s Alberta was the NHL’s version of Death Valley. It was where winning streaks of teams outside of the division came to die. The hatred between the Flames and Oilers was so strong it made each of those teams better. Many would argue this rivalry outpaced ones between Boston and Montreal, Rangers and Flyers, even Montreal and Quebec.
“Nobody sent eight teams to a Stanley Cup out of their rivalry in row. Between ’83 and ’90 it was Edmonton and Calgary every single year. They won six of eight so the pedigree of that rivalry was unmatched,” he said.
While covering the Oilers for the Journal Spector witnessed plenty of on-ice action and of course got some information during post-game interviews. But until he wrote this book he had just mined the surface of what went on between two teams with a high level of dislike for each other. Animosity wouldn’t even begin to describe the feeling in each dressing room the night of a game.
Fights were common place and they weren’t your garden variety pushing and shoving with a punch or two tossed. This was mayhem on the ice. One such incident involved two enforcers- relative newcomer Stu Grimson for the Flames and Dave Brown wearing the Oilers colours. They dropped the mitts and Brown lost to Grimson in Edmonton .You would think that was that right? You would be wrong in that assumption. He said he had no idea as to the impact this loss to Grimson had on Brown.
Spector said the Oilers tough guy felt his entire professional integrity was on the line. He felt like his job is on the line, his career is on the line after this nobody has come into our building , pushed me around and my team mates are going to lose faith in me.
“ If you ever knew a hockey heavyweight they’re all about the team. They’re going out there getting their brains beat in, not for them but for the sense of safety they give to their team mates and if that goes it’s over for that guy.”
The next meeting between the two ended with Brown winning a unanimous decision in the rematch which was so brutal Grimson suffered broken bones in his face, almost ending his career. It didn’t though and he went on to play more games, have more fights, becoming a stronger person and a very fine man, said Spectre.
“That to me was amazing. It would have ruined most of us. I didn’t know that about him and I found out later and I thought that was a pretty cool chapter.”
As he was signing books that afternoon many people had a story as to why they were interested in the book with most saying they had an older family member who had lived through this era of hockey history on one side or the other. But for a younger generation this is all new information and Spector says even his own stepsons are asking if these situations recorded in the book really happened.
“Did it really go like that? Did they really do those things back then? We’re they really that good? Those kids, the Oiler/Flames fan today who’s 25 years old, it’s been a pretty tough run. Kids haven’t had a lot of fun,” he said. “So hopefully there’s some fun coming and in the meantime settle down with a good book and see what it does for you.”
In the end, this war on the ice between two talented, physical and entertaining Alberta hockey teams made for great stories .You can either relive the glory days or read about it for the first time in “The Battle of Alberta.” In any case, you will be entertained if you’re a hockey fan.
