The Flames at the Saddledome

From October 1983 to spring 2027, the Calgary Flames played their home games at the Saddledome. Forty-three full seasons. One Stanley Cup, two Cup Finals, four Conference Finals, and the most consequential rivalry the NHL has ever produced. This is the building's hockey memory, the one that will outlive the room.

Arrival, 1980 to 1983

The Flames arrived in Calgary in 1980 from Atlanta, where they had played as the Atlanta Flames since 1972. The franchise's first three Calgary seasons were at the Stampede Corral, a small old building with limited capacity and zero modern amenities. The Saddledome opened October 15, 1983, with the Flames as the primary tenant. The first regular-season game at the Saddledome was a 5 to 4 loss to Edmonton on October 15, 1983, with Wayne Gretzky scoring twice for the Oilers. The fact that the Flames lost their first home game in their new building, in front of their entire city, on the front end of a divisional rivalry that would define the next decade of Canadian hockey, is the kind of detail Calgarians who were there still remember.

The Lanny McDonald era, 1983 to 1989

Lanny McDonald is the most loved player in Saddledome hockey history. He had been a star with Toronto in the late 1970s, was traded to Colorado, then traded to Calgary in 1981. By the time the Saddledome opened, Lanny was the Flames' captain. He scored 66 goals in the 1982-83 season, making him a 50-goal scorer in his early 30s, in a building that was about to host the NHL's most consequential rivalry.

Lanny's defining moment at the Saddledome came on March 7, 1989, his 500th NHL goal. He scored it on a power play against the New York Islanders, as the entire Saddledome stood and cheered for an extended ovation. Joe Nieuwendyk had picked it up first, and the puck was preserved. Lanny is the player Calgarians most associate with the Saddledome's first decade. The full story of his career and that night is at calgarysaddledome.com/lanny-mcdonald.

The 1989 Stanley Cup

The 1988-89 Calgary Flames are the only team in franchise history to win the Stanley Cup. They finished first overall in the regular season with 117 points. They beat Vancouver, Los Angeles, Chicago, and finally Montreal in the final. Lanny scored what turned out to be the Cup-winning goal at 4:24 of the third period of Game 6, at the Montreal Forum, in his last NHL game. He was 36 years old.

Calgary's celebration at the Saddledome the next morning, when the team flew home with the Cup, drew tens of thousands of fans into the parking lots. The Saddledome itself, the building, became permanently associated with the city's only major-league championship. The full story of the 1989 Cup is at calgarysaddledome.com/1989-stanley-cup.

The Cup was won at the Forum, but it was carried back to the Saddledome. The image of Lanny lifting the Cup is one of Calgary's defining sports photographs. The image of the parade route through downtown Calgary, ending at the Saddledome, is the other.

The Battle of Alberta

From 1980 to now, the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers have been the NHL's most intense Canadian rivalry. The Saddledome has hosted dozens of Battle of Alberta home games per decade. Every regular-season Saddledome Flames-Oilers game since 1983 has been a sellout. The 1980s were the rivalry's peak: both teams were among the league's elite, and the four playoff series the two teams played that decade (Edmonton won three, Calgary won the most consequential one in 1986) became the league's most-watched Canadian content.

The Steve Smith own goal in Game 7 of the 1986 Smythe Division Final, the Theo Fleury slide-on-stomach goal in Game 6 of the 1991 series, and the 2022 second-round playoff series are the rivalry's three peaks at the Saddledome era. The full Battle of Alberta history at the Saddledome is at calgarysaddledome.com/battle-of-alberta.

The wilderness years, 1989 to 2003

After the 1989 Cup, Calgary went through what fans now call the wilderness years. The Flames missed the playoffs every season from 1996 to 2003. The roster turned over multiple times. The team's revenue model strained. Several of the players who had been on the 1989 Cup team retired or were traded. The Saddledome's atmosphere during those years became, by hockey-attendance standards, subdued. The building was rarely full mid-season; the C of Red faded.

Two players kept the wilderness years from being entirely empty: Theo Fleury, who played his prime years at the Saddledome from 1989 to 1999, and the early Jarome Iginla seasons from 1996 to 2003. Fleury was a 5-foot-6 winger drafted 166th overall who outscored most of the players taken ahead of him; his 1991 slide-on-stomach goal against Edmonton is one of the building's permanent images. The full story is at calgarysaddledome.com/theo-fleury.

The Iginla era, 2003 to 2013

Jarome Iginla took over as Flames captain in October 2003, replacing Craig Conroy. He held the C from 2003 to his trade to Pittsburgh in March 2013. Ten seasons. The longest captaincy in franchise history.

The captaincy began with what was supposed to be another non-playoff season, then turned into the 2004 Cup Final run, when Calgary, captained by Iginla, surprised the league by reaching the Cup Final after years of rebuilding. The Cup Final went seven games. Calgary lost 4 to 3 to Tampa Bay. Iginla, in the years since, has spoken about the 2004 run as the moment he understood what Calgary hockey could be.

The 2004 run produced the Red Mile, the Flames' equivalent of a citywide block party along 17th Avenue SW after every home win. Tens of thousands of fans packed the streets after every Saddledome win. Iginla's 500th goal came at the Saddledome on January 7, 2012, against Minnesota, on a feed from Mikael Backlund. His full Saddledome career is at calgarysaddledome.com/jarome-iginla.

The C of Red

The C of Red is the playoff tradition where every Saddledome fan wore red, turning the building into a single-colour wall of fan support. The tradition started in the 1986 Smythe Division Final and reached its peak during the 2004 Cup run. The colour, the noise, the playoff energy: the Saddledome became one of the NHL's most televised home crowds for a stretch in the mid-2000s. The full C of Red story is at calgarysaddledome.com/c-of-red.

The 2013 flood

On June 21, 2013, the Bow River entered the Saddledome through the lower-level loading docks. The water rose to row 14 of the lower bowl. The Calgary Stampede was eleven days away. Crews worked around the clock. The Saddledome was operational again by October 2013, in time for the regular NHL season. Damage was over $30 million. The full story of the 2013 flood at the Saddledome is at calgarysaddledome.com/2013-flood.

The flood revealed the building's location problem. The 2013 event became one of the reasons the Saddledome's location was eventually deemed problematic by the City and the Flames. Scotia Place, opening 2027, is being built on slightly higher ground.

The Iginla trade, 2013

On March 27, 2013, the Flames traded Iginla to Pittsburgh in a deal that returned Kenneth Agostino, Ben Hanowski, and a first-round pick. The trade was a moment Calgary fans had been preparing for and dreading for a year. Iginla was 35. The team was rebuilding. The trade was the right hockey move and an emotionally devastating event simultaneously.

Iginla's number 12 was retired by the Flames at a 2019 Saddledome ceremony that still ranks among the building's most emotional non-game nights. The number 12 banner now hangs in the Saddledome rafters, alongside Lanny's number 9. Both will move to Scotia Place in 2027.

The 2022 Battle of Alberta playoff series

The 2021-22 season produced the first Battle of Alberta playoff series since 1991. The Flames had won the Pacific Division under Darryl Sutter; the Oilers had finished second. The second-round series was, somehow, even more intense than the regular-season hype had promised. Connor McDavid scored at will. Johnny Gaudreau did the same. The teams traded haymakers for five games. Edmonton won the series 4 to 1.

For both fan bases, the series was a reminder that the rivalry's energy had not gone away across three decades of dormancy. The Saddledome rocked for the home games of that series in a way the building hadn't rocked since the 2004 run.

The final seasons, 2024 to 2027

The Flames are now in the run-up to the move. Scotia Place is scheduled to open fall 2027. The Saddledome will host its final NHL game in spring 2027. The 2026-27 season will be the building's last NHL season.

The team has been rebuilding through the 2024 to 2026 seasons under multiple coaching changes and a roster reset. Whether the Flames make a deep playoff run in the Saddledome's last season is unknown. What is known is that whatever happens in those final games will be intensely emotional for fans who have been visiting this room for forty-three years.

What forty-three years means

The Saddledome's hockey memory has three rough eras: the Lanny McDonald era (1983 to 1989), the wilderness years and Fleury era (1989 to 2003), and the Iginla era (1996 to 2013, with the captaincy from 2003). Plus the rebuild and renaissance years (2013 to 2027). For Calgarians born in the 1980s and 1990s, the Saddledome IS Flames hockey. The full memory of what those forty-three years meant is at calgarysaddledome.com/flames.

When the building comes down in 2027, what's lost isn't just an NHL arena. It's the room where Lanny celebrated, where Iggy waved, where Theo slid down the ice on his stomach, where the Soviet hockey team won 1988 Olympic gold, where the 2004 Red Mile started, where the 2022 Battle erupted again. The room is not transferable. Scotia Place will be a different room, and the new memory will start there.

What goes with the building

• Lanny McDonald, the captain who lifted the only Cup, who scored his 500th in this room, who has the rafters banner.
• The 1989 Stanley Cup, won at the Forum, celebrated at the Saddledome.
• The Battle of Alberta, the rivalry that defined Canadian hockey, fought through this room for forty-three years.
• Theo Fleury, 5'6" of fury, the kid from Russell who outscored everyone taken ahead of him.
• Jarome Iginla, the longest captaincy in franchise history, the 500-goal night, the 2004 run.
• The C of Red, the tradition that turned the room into a single-colour wall every spring.
• The 1988 Olympics, hockey gold for the Soviets, figure-skating finals for Canada.
• The 2013 flood, the river to row 14, the recovery that became Calgary's slogan.