Heritage Sports Art

Some History

Now eleven years removed from their last Stanley Cup championship, the Flames are no longer a playoff regular; in fact they hadn't made the playoffs since the 1995-95 season. The teams best record since that season was a third place finish in 1998-99 in the now Northwest division. The 1999-00 season would be a struggle as well as the team finished with 77 points (31-36-10-5), last place in the Northwest.

With rising salary costs and being a "small market Canadian team" the Flames began to rebuild with young talent. An interesting mix of established veterans and journeymen rounded out the roster. Jarome Iginla, who was acquired from the Dallas Stars in a trade for Joe Nieuwendyk in 1994-95, was developing into a team leader he finished second in scoring to Valeri Bure. Bure finished with 35 goals and 40 assists for 70 points, Iginla came in with 29 and 34 for 63 points.

Conspicuous to Alberta hockey fans was the presence of 2 Edmonton Oiler greats on the Flames roster: Veteran defenceman Steve Smith and goalie Grant Furh. Smith, now in his second season with the Flames, was a mentor to a young and up-and-coming defenceman Robyn Regehr. Regehr was in his rookie year and he played 57 games and notched 12 points.  Just playing hockey that year was impressive for Regehr as he was in a car accident the summer before where he suffered two broken legs.

Grant Furh started the season as the number one goalie, but lost his spot to injury and the unexpected great play of Fred Brathwaite. Fred played 61 games and had a 2.75 goals against average.  Furh would retire at the end of the season but remain with the club as a goaltending consultant.

The Flames unveiled their black third jersey in 1998. It features a stylized horse's head snorting flames. On the shoulders are small versions of the flaming C logo.  A patch celebrating NHL in the year 2000 is present on the right shoulder, all teams wore this patch.

A 3rd jersey is a concept that became commonplace in baseball and hockey in the 1990's, and in the 2000s in the NFL. Most 3rd jerseys are worn occasionally at home as well as on the road, giving a team a third option as to what uniform to wear. And of course, the addition of a third jersey adds to the options fans can buy, thereby increasing apparel revenues and ultimately benefiting the team. More recently, baseball and hockey teams have begun adding 4th and even 5th jerseys to their roster of uniform possibilities, but this trend has not started in the NFL, nor is it likely to if for no other reason than the fact that the NFL season consists of only 16 regular season games vs baseball's 162 and hockey's 82.

In 2000, this jersey became the official road jersey and the old red 'away' jersey was eliminated.