dieHARDflameZ First Line Centre



Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Calgary, AB Exp:

Saddledome Event Recap - Brian Burke State of the Union This is the first thread I have ever started but wanted to share my experience from a small private event I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to attend earlier today at the Saddledome.



We first got to watch the Flames practice from the Owner's box which was neat as all of the local media sat right in front of the box including Steinberg, Wills, Loubardias, Franklin and even our own favourite Eric Francis made an appearance. It was interesting to hear them discuss the teams recent success and how they see things playing out.



There isn't really much to say about the practice but what was really noticeable was how excited Lazar seems to be. You can tell he is itching to get into the lineup and is doing everything he can to prove himself to the coaching staff. He stayed out for some time once practice ended to work on a few different things with Paul Jerrard. Others that remained on the ice were Bennett, Tkachuk, Hamilton, Stone, Versteeg, Freddie and Johnson. Frolik was the last guy to leave the ice after doing a couple of suicides and stick handling drills on his own. His work ethic in everything he did on the ice was incredible. You can tell the team is having fun and are in a good place mentally right now.



One of the local reporters (mods can PM me for source) had a lot of interesting things to say about a number of Flames related issues both past and present to some of the other gentlemen sitting in the box and it was impossible not to overhear the comments:



- Dennis Wideman is the most hated guy in the entire organization. Twice in the past two weeks "Gully" has had to pull him into his office to ask him to simply be a pro and be a good soldier and a good teammate.



It was interesting to hear that because quite frankly watching him in practice, he is completely checked out.



- The difference between Gio and Iggy as captains is like night and day. The guys love Gio but when Iggy was here it was a 50/50 split. There was a very clear divide in the dressing room when Iggy was still here. Gio is the kind of guy that will say "we're going to go block shots with our heads or whatever it takes" and he'll be the first guy on the ice to go and do that.



After practice we got to go eat lunch in one of the conference rooms across the hall and Brian Burke was the guest speaker. He spoke for approximately 15 minutes and followed that up with another 15 minutes of questions before he had to go to a Flames team event. These are the things he mentioned:



- They see themselves as a playoff team and believe second or third in the division is achievable. He says they're confident they can catch both Anaheim and Edmonton but will need a bit of help to catch the latter. Top 6 in the conference is the goal and sets them up the best for success.



- They're still not sure why the Calgary NEXT project was met with such opposition from the city because the area will need to be cleaned up regardless. If he were a betting man he believes the new arena will end up being somewhere close to the current location of the Dome. He did acknowledge that we do currently have the nicest arena built in 1983.



- He does not sound confident that hockey will work in Vegas at all and doesn't seem to buy the notion that the league should be expanding when there's teams like Carolina, Arizona and Florida struggling to fill their buildings. Mentioned the last time Calgary played in Carolina there was something like 6000 fans.



- It sure sounds like Lazar will be protected in the expansion draft which was to be expected. Someone also asked directly if that meant Brouwer would be exposed. Burke said the organization loves Brouwer and what he brings and that he is a playoff beast and built for the post season and compared him to a horse in that when they smell water they start to move faster towards it. It sure sounds like the team is considering making a side deal to protect all of their assets.



- Lazar will get into the lineup as soon as the team loses. As long as the teams winning and stays healthy, he won't be in, that's just not the way things work. Says they love the kid and his energy that he brings and he's the kind of player they'd consider matching up against a player like McDavid. They don't see him as a 40 goal scorer or anything, they see him as a very effective third liner and sometimes all younger players need to get their games back is a change of postal code.



All in all, it was an awesome event and Burke was fantastic. I could listen to him talk and tell stories for hours. We are seriously lucky to have a guy like that in our organization.