The Battle of Alberta has never lacked for chaos, but one of its strangest moments came on Jan. 20, 2003 - and it had nothing to do with the players on the ice.
That night at the Saddledome, the Flames were rolling. Craig Conroy and Dave Lowry scored in the first period, then Conroy and Chris Drury added more in the second as Calgary built a 4-0 lead over the Edmonton Oilers. The crowd was loud, the home side was cruising, and then Harvey the Hound drifted a little too close to the visitors’ bench during a stoppage.
What happened next turned a routine rivalry game into one of the weirdest scenes in Battle of Alberta history.
Craig MacTavish, then coaching the Oilers, took issue with Harvey’s presence behind the glass while Edmonton trailed by four early in the third period. He reached up, grabbed the Calgary mascot’s foot-long red tongue and ripped it out. MacTavish then threw the tongue back into the crowd as security moved in to deal with the mascot.
The Flames still finished with the win, though Edmonton did make things interesting. Brian Swanson, Marty Reasoner and Mike York scored for the Oilers, but Calgary held on for a 4-3 victory.
The aftermath had its own odd twist. At the 2003 NHL All-Star Game a few weeks later, Harvey was joined by the league’s other mascots, who wore oversized, dangling tongues in a show of solidarity.
And Harvey, tongue included, remains a fixture at Flames home games to this day.
In Other News...
One Saddledome Night Still Defines The Flames For A Generation
On May 29, 2004, the Saddledome felt like the center of the hockey world again, hosting a Stanley Cup Final game for the first time in 15 years as the Flames welcomed Tampa Bay. Calgary made the night matter, skating away with a 3-0 win in Game 3 behind a disciplined effort, timely scoring and strong goaltending in front of a crowd that had waited a long time for that stage to return.
The game became one of those franchise touchstones that still hangs over the building years later, a reminder of how close the Flames came to turning that run into something even bigger. The series went all seven games, and Tampa Bay ended up lifting the Cup, but for one Saddledome night the Flames had the league exactly where they wanted it and gave their fans a memory that still defines an era. [Read more 🡒]
Sharangovich Knows He Must Deliver More For A Scoring-Starved Flames Team
Yegor Sharangovich spent the offseason taking a hard look at his game, and the Calgary Flames are hoping that self-assessment leads to a much-needed bounce-back. After a low-scoring season from the club, Sharangovich knows he has to be better, especially in the areas that can help him hold onto pucks and drive play when the offense dries up.
He said his focus has been on improving his performance in puck battles and in his own zone, part of a broader effort to get back to the scoring form he has shown before. The work has not just been mental, either, with changes to his training approach designed to help him rebuild his all-around game and give a thin Flames attack another reliable option. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Have Another Center Prospect Worth Watching Closely
Jonathan Castagna is becoming an interesting name to track in the Flames system, especially after the organization brought him in as part of the MacKenzie Weegar deal and later signed him to an entry-level contract that begins in 2026-27. After a strong junior season at Cornell, the center got a look at Flames rookie camp and now looks headed for the Calgary Wranglers next season, where the club will get a better sense of how his game translates against pro competition.
For Calgary, the appeal goes beyond just another center body in the pipeline. Castagnas faceoff work and leadership have stood out, traits that can help a young player carve out a real role quickly if the rest of his game keeps coming along. The Wranglers should give him a chance to compete for top-line center duty, and for a prospect still early in his development, that is a meaningful opportunity to watch closely. [Read more 🡒]