The last impassioned love affair between Calgary and its hockey team took place in the spring of 2004.



It had been 15 long years since the Flames won the Stanley Cup in 1989 and over that decade and a half, not once had they gotten past the first round of the playoffs.



In the previous seven seasons, they hadn’t even made the playoffs.



Entering the postseason as the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference, they were the underdogs from the outset and that didn’t change for all 26 playoff games. They took down No. 3 seed Vancouver, No.1 seed Detroit and No. 2 seed San Jose, before reaching the final, eventually succumbing to Tampa Bay, No. 1 seed in the East, in Game 7.



Part of the charm with that team — beyond the colourful personalities — centered around expectations. Simply put, there were none. How could there be with that type of an anemic track record? On a smaller scale, Calgary was hockey’s version of the lovable...