The Battle of Alberta: The Historic Rivalry Between the Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames

Having been witness to the "Battle of Alberta" growing up following the Oilers, this is a pretty good recollecttion of the rivalry between the two teams. Knowing that Mark Spector has been following the sport of hockey, in particular the Oilers, for a long time makes it an accurate account of the happenings when these two teams faced-off against each other.

I'm a big hockey and heard a lot about the great rivalries of the past. This one showed who made it great, what made it great and why it was great. Good for any hockey fan

This book is an amazing journey into one of the greatest rivalry in sports when it was at its peak. I would definitely recommend this book to not just hockey fans, but fans of any sport just well writted

Awesome book that takes you back inside the rivalry, hearing some of the untold stories and understanding perspectives from both sides of the battle! A must read for Oilers, Flames fans and hockey fans in general!

Very informative book on the Oilers-Flames rivalry of the 1980s & early 1990s. Reminds me of growing up in the 1980s when the Isles & Rags rivalry was just as heated.

Although there is enough in here to keep you reading it certainly confirms my Mark Spector suspicions. Given I used to subscribe to the National Post and found his writing suspect, I started to come around with his various call-ins to Prime Time Sports and reports on Sportsnet. Now I'm back to the former on Spector.Too much of this book is about the fighting (not that I'm anti-fighting but c'mon, man!) and not enough about the actual games or delving way more into the personalities.His need to compare that era's game to today's is totally unnecessary. Obviously, the 1986, 1988 and 1991 series were in there but to offer up barely a page total on the 1984 series between the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers was odd. Given that was the first truly competitive one between the two teams (two OT game and four one-goal games in a seven game series that ended with a 7-4 Oilers win), why give it short shrift. I rewatched some of it that '84 series I still have on video, and I'd argue the games were just as good as in 1986. I wanted to know more about that series than just in passing.Also, Spector devotes a whole chapter to taking about the media of that era. News flash: Fans don't care. Then he quotes John Shannon a few times. First of all, who is John Shannon? No, seriously. The guy pops up out of nowhere on Sportsnet a couple of years ago and all I know is he was some Hockey Night In Canada producer. I never find anything he says of interest and, uh, he's not a journalist nor never was. In fact, I axe any McCown Prime Time Sports' podcast if Shannon is in studio. Just can't stand the guy, his voice and his attempts at humor. Despite being from the West he strikes me more a Tarrana lackey thru and thru. Sorry, I don't get him at all and why anyone would want to quote a TV producer anyhow in a book about hockey. Would someone find me another book on hockey that does that?Also, Spector loves to bemoan the death of the old media newspapers but given all this supposed access he had as a news guy, why are the stories in here so facile and lame. I'm sorry, man, where's the content?Finally, what was up with a chapter on some fight between Stu Grimson and Dave Brown in 1990? As someone not living in Alberta, I was hardpressed to remember Grimson other than with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Brown as other than a Philadelphia Flyer. I look it up and Grimson played a grand total of four games with the Flames. OK, I see Brown played three seasons with the Oil between stints either side with Philly. Still, when I think of Brown, I think of him crosschecking New York Ranger Tomas Sandstrom in the head and getting a 15-game suspension during the Keenan era in the City of Brawlin' Bullies.For some decent books on the two teams that I have read, and feel cover this topic a lot better, check out:The Glory Barons (by Douglas Hunter)From 79 to 99 (by Terry Jones)Champions (by Kevin Lowe w/ Stan Fischler)On Fire: The Dramatic Rise Of The Calgary Flames (by Eric Duhatschek and Steve Simmons)

"The Battle of Alberta" - the actual games, not the book - was something of an "inside story" in the world of professional hockey in the 1980s, especially in the United States. We knew all about the Edmonton Oilers, thanks to the fabulous Wayne Gretzky and his supporting cast that was much more than a supporting cast. Names like Messier, Kurri, Anderson, Coffey and Fuhr were Hall of Famers in their own right.Meanwhile, the Calgary Flames were just down the road in Alberta. They were obviously a very good team in those days, but they were constantly bumping up against one of the great teams in the history of hockey. Sadly for the Flames, the playoffs were intramural affairs within the division in the first couple of rounds, which meant Calgary had to go through Edmonton to get to close to the promised land.Those games, regular season and playoff, were close to off the charts in intensity. The Oilers usually won, especially when the Flames were just building their team.Eventually, though, Calgary broke through. The catch in terms of public attention is that Edmonton and Calgary aren't major media centers, and therefore few people knew about those games.That left the subject open for Mark Spector, attacking the rivalry in his book, "The Battle of Alberta." He does a thorough job of getting the feelings of the participants out in the open. In fact, it doesn't sound like there was a great deal of prompting.The Flames were never going to match the Oilers' level of skill, so they built up a slightly different type of team. The roster had a bunch of college players from America who were overlooked by NHL scouts, so they had a chip on their shoulder coming into the league. Playing second-fiddle to Edmonton fit in nicely with that formula. And if that meant using players with grit to do anything possible to slow down the speedy Oilers, well, whatever worked. Neil Sheehy, who went to Harvard, became well-known in the sport for his efforts to at least slow Gretzky.Author Mark Spector was around for much of the fun, which ran through much of the 1980s and leaked into the start of the 1990s. The Oilers and Flames were good talkers, as they say in the media, and they haven't lost the touch. Spector only needs to turn on the tape recorder, ask a question, and sit back.He uses a different technique of organizing the book that many such efforts. Since the matchups were irregularly played, Spector opts to use a different theme for each chapter. So we read about coaches Glen Sather and Bob Johnson, Edmonton's Steve Smith and his famous "own goal" in which he took too much of the blame, the goaltenders, and so on. About the only drawback is that sometimes facts and stories get repeated. It interrupts the flow a little bit.Still, the passion comes out on practically every page. It's great fun to read the reactions of what happened when coach Terry Crisp of Calgary opted to dress Lanny McDonald for a potential Cup-clinching game in Montreal in 1989, from the players who had to sit out the game to McDonald's thought as he scored the go-ahead goal - the last goal of his career.Ken Dryden once said that playoff meetings developed rivalries, and there's no doubt that it worked in the case of Edmonton and Calgary. There's nothing like seven games in 10 days between two teams to develop a good-size level of emotion, year after year.The Oilers and Flames haven't been very good too often in the last several years, and when one has been good, the other has been mediocre or worse. Fans from the 1980s certainly have a head start when it comes to enjoying "The Battle of Alberta," but I think most hockey followers will get the idea about what an interesting time it was - and to hope we see a renewal of the rivalry sometime relatively soon.

Got it for my very own father on his birthday. To quote him: "I love it." Very pleased with this purchase.

One of the fiercest rivalry in the history of the NHL. From 1983 to 1990, hockey was totally Albertan. I recommend the reading of it.

Sehr gutes Buch, zwar in englisch aber absolut lesenswert wenn man das Thema mag. Habe noch nichts vergleichbar Gutes gelesen.

Gran libro. Compendio de historias con auténticas leyendas de la NHL y de ambos equipos contando sus vivencias.

Must read for any Oilers or Flames fan or anyone who is a huge fan of old time hockey!

Bought this for my husband, and he loves it.