University of Kansas students hop on the Flames bandwagon
Posted May 21, 2022 1:19 pm.
Last Updated May 21, 2022 1:28 pm.
They might be more than 2,700 kilometers away but that’s not stopping their newfound love for the Calgary Flames.
Meet Noah Talley, Christian Ryckman, Aidan Sidoti, Thomas Burns, and Jackson Eaton. The 20-year-old roommates live in Kansas City where they are all studying at the University of Kansas.
They have no connections whatsoever to Calgary and don’t even typically make a point of tuning into hockey games.
However on a Sunday night, they decided they would watch a game, which happened to be Game 7 of the Dallas vs. Calgary series.
“We were killing some time watching basketball but the game was kind of boring, the Mavericks were blowing the Suns out and we’re like, ‘let’s throw on some hockey, it’s Game 7, it’s got to be an electric factory,” said Burns.
They decided to cheer for Calgary solely because they didn’t want to cheer for the Stars given that the Mavericks had already won in the NBA.
“They (Dallas) can’t have two winning teams in one day,” said Burns.
And what a game they chose to tune into, with Johnny Gaudreau scoring the OT winner, locking in the Battle of Alberta for the next round.
“We turn it on and they win in OT and they were talking about the Battle of Alberta and we’re like, ‘wow, we have to just bet on this team and root for them religiously for the rest of the playoffs.'”
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But it wasn’t just the players that won them over. They say seeing fans at the Red Lot gave them even more of a reason to cheer for Calgary.
“We were like, ‘wow that is insane and we just wished we could be there,'” said Ryckman.
So they are now fully invested in the matchup between Calgary and Edmonton.
Sidoti says watching the Flames score back to back in 50 seconds during Wednesday night’s Game 1 was electric.
“That’s when we figured out everybody’s names and found our favourite players, it was awesome.”
Blake Coleman is one of their favoured players, mainly because of his nickname Pickles. He was given the moniker after it was revealed he drinks pickle juice to help with cramps.
Burns, however, has declared Milan Lucic as his favourite Flame after watching him play.
“I just saw him deck that guy the other day and I was like, wow that’s the kind of guy I want on my team.”
Of course, the names Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, and Elias Lindholm also came up too when they talked about their favourites.
The roommates are now cheering for the Flames and are hoping that they advance to the Western Conference Finals.
Related Article: Flames, Oilers combine for 15 goals as Calgary takes Battle of Alberta Game 1
They are also hoping the St. Louis Blues win their series against Colorado because that would mean a Flames vs. Blues matchup and the roommates could actually get to a game.
“If they go to St. Louis we’re for sure going no matter what, we’re for sure going to St. Louis. We will try our best to get to Colorado and see the Flames play,” Sidoti said.
And what about coming to a game at the Saddledome? The boys have already thought about that.
“We found out it’s about a 24-hour drive from where we are.”
They admit, they will need to save a bit of money before coming up to Calgary but are hoping to maybe come for spring break in March of next year.
In the meantime, they’ll continue to represent the Flames in Kansas City. Not only have they made their own Flames t-shirts but they have a giant flaming C flag on the way.
“We just want to say, we didn’t choose the Flames, the Flames chose us.”
IN PHOTOS: University of Kansas students hop on the Flames bandwagon
(Photos: Haley Jarmain, CityNews Calgary)
