Flames vs. Oilers: The Battle of Alberta begins Wednesday night in Calgary

This doesn’t happen very often.

For the first time in 31 years, the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames will meet in a Stanley Cup playoff series, and the Battle of Alberta will begin again.

Excitement is high in both Edmonton and Calgary, as fans get ready for the rare post-season matchup.

The last time these two teams met in the playoffs, Alfred Duerr was mayor of Calgary, Jan Reimer was mayor of Edmonton, and Don Getty was premier of Alberta.

It appears as though the entire province is joining in on the fun.

The hockey rivalry has reached the city of Red Deer, which has fans split between supporting the Flames and the Oilers.

As per tradition, the current mayors of both Calgary and Edmonton have a wager going, and even Canadian soccer players are placing their bets on which team will win.

Despite the intense hockey rivalry between the Flames and Oilers — and the rivalry between Edmonton and Calgary that extends outside of sports — some folks are content to have a Canadian team representing Alberta guaranteed to make it to the Western Conference finals.

No matter who wins, either the Oilers or Flames will end up in the next round to play the winner of the series between the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche.

All-time NHL great and Oiler legend Wayne Gretzky notoriously picked the Flames to win in a Battle of Alberta this year, but ultimately predicted the Blues would advance to the Stanley Cup final.

Although there doesn’t appear to be as many curses coming from the Calgary Flames subreddit, some fans online are poking fun at the fact that the Oilers organization is still paying Flames forward Milan Lucic to play against them due to past contract obligations.

Meanwhile the Edmonton Oilers are heading into the Battle of Alberta with the support of their signature good luck charm, Oilers superfan Ben Stelter.

The young five-year-old Oilers fan who is battling brain cancer recently became an icon of sorts for Edmonton.

Stelter captured the hearts of hockey fans, gives the players fist bumps before they hit the ice, and was even featured on an Upper Deck hockey card.

He even blessed the Stanley Cup with his presence on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Calgary Flames are racking up nominations for the NHL Awards. Flames centre Elias Lindholm is one of three finalists for the Frank J. Selke Trophy. The annual honour is presented to the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game.

This comes after Jacob Markstrom was named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, which honours the best goaltender in the NHL. The winners of the NHL Awards will be revealed later in the post-season.

Game 1 of the Battle of Alberta begins Wednesday at the Saddledome in Calgary. Puck drops at 7:30 p.m. MT. You can catch the game on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 960 The Fan, and updates on CityNews 660.

–With files from CityNews Staff, Jillian Code and The Canadian Press