Battle of Alberta has Redcliff house divided

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

“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.

by Gates Guarin

Battle of Alberta has Redcliff house divided

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