Karen and Wade Brown cheer for their respective teams (Photo Courtesy Ross Lavigne)

By Gates Guarin

Game one tonight

Battle of Alberta has Redcliff house divided

May 18, 2022 | 4:47 PM

REDCLIFF, AB – It’s a moment many hockey fans in the province have been waiting for: a Battle of Alberta in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers will duke it out for the first time since 1991, some 31 years ago. The series has some fans and even families divided.

Karen and Wade Brown have been together for two decades. The two say the rivalry has been a healthy one, even during their marriage.

“Oh, it’s been troubling times in the last 20 years,” Karen, a diehard Flames fan says. “But we’ve made it through it.”

HERE'S WHAT TO KNOW

Summer pool hours extended and discounts applied as Big Marble Go Centre upgrades start

Apr 18, 2024

Medicine Hat company drawing in clients with witty signage

Apr 16, 2024

Medicine Hat College holding event for missing and murdered Indigenous women awareness day

Apr 16, 2024

“It’s not the first thing you say when you meet someone on a date, if you’re a hockey fan or not,” Wade, a loyal Oilers fan says. “The rivalry is good, even in a marriage.”

Karen moved to Calgary when she was just two years old and has been a Flames fan ever since. Her reaction to the game seven overtime win was a tense one.

“Oh Sunday I was nervous and when it was in overtime, I could hardly even look at the TV,” Karen says. “I had my dad and my stepmother here, and they’re Edmonton Oiler fans, and I made them wear the Calgary jerseys.”

Wade has been cheering on the oilers since the early ’80s, back when the battle of Alberta first started. He says he was almost too nervous to watch Edmonton’s round clinching victory on Saturday night.

“Sometimes you get watching the games and it gets so close and your nerves are so bad you just want to go to another room and wait to find out who’s going to win,” Wade says. “But it was awesome hockey, best hockey we’ve seen, both of us, in a long time.”

There is also a lot at stake for the Browns by the end of the series.

“Well if the Oilers- when the Flames lose, Karen will be wearing an Oilers jersey when we golf, and every game she’ll wear an Oilers jersey until the team’s out and visa versa if Calgary happens to win,” Wade says.

Karen’s response?

“I would like to give this [Flames] jersey to my husband now, because I’m positive that the Oilers are going to lose. Go Flames go!”

No matter what the outcome, both Karen and Wade have nothing but love for each other at the end of the day.