Calgary Flames hockey is back, and it’s going to be a year to remember. This team has amassed fans from many generations, spanning decades. In the city of Calgary, a common thread many Flames fans share is walking through the Saddledome doors and watching Flames hockey.
The season is officially underway and Calgary kicked it off with a home opener against the Seattle Kraken. Prior to the puck drop, members of the media were invited to a Saddledome tour to see how CSEC is preparing for the 2026–27 Farewell Season. Susan Darrington, Chief Venues and Entertainment Officer and Steve Edgar, Marketing Director, led the tour with many guest appearances from the Saddledome brass.
A season to celebrate
The Flames have had a storied history playing out of the Saddledome. This season, it’s no secret that the team on the ice should not be very good. Plain and simple. This team, at least on paper, looks like a team that should contend for the best lottery odds.
I’m not here to start flame wars—pun intended—on what the best outcome for this team would be this season (it’s a high draft pick, trust me). Rather, in going on the tour, you get a sense that this season, Flames hockey is going to be a bit of a side plot in what the main story will be.
The Flames will have 44 home games out of the ‘Dome (two preseason, and 42 regular season games with the extended schedule), and each and every game will be one to celebrate, win or lose, all moments frozen in time to take in and fully enjoy. This year, whether going into the ‘Dome for the first of many last times, or actually the last time in the final game, Flames fans will get the chance to celebrate among each other as they bid farewell.
The iconic arena has hosted thousands of Flames hockey games on top of so many other events, and in counting down the finite number of days left in the Saddledome, you absolutely know that everyone working in the ‘Dome is doing their best work to make this season one for the ages. From the ice plant to the kitchen, from the broadcast room to the game presentation booth, everyone is onboard to have the most farewell-iest of farewells.
The ‘Dome has the commemorative Farewell Season logo at centre ice, and underneath it are the names of every season ticket member, frozen “in the ice as a tribute to their support,” Edgar said. The entire arena is set up with Farewell graphics and motifs, the home opener saw 20,000 fans go home with farewell t-shirts, and there’s much more to come over the course of the season.
People have measured their lives in seasons and games and landmarked their lives by “Oh that was that year because I remember that goal or that moment…” it’s been a family member to many Calgarians and it is tough moving on from a family member.
Steve Edgar
More than just a job
For the people who work in the ‘Dome, this season is personal. Peter Mack, one of the building’s ice technicians, used to lay the ice at the Stampede Corral. He put down the Saddledome’s very first sheet of ice in 1983, and he just put the finishing touches on the final season’s ice. “So this is more than a job,” Darrington said. “We call this our home, and we’re moving to our new house.”
Up in the game presentation booth, the crew scripts every game down to the second. The booth sits at the end of a catwalk that isn’t for the faint of heart to traverse, and it offers what Edgar says the press will tell you is “one of the best views of the ice surface in the National Hockey League.” It shakes when the crowd erupts, and it helps cause the eruption: the booth houses the button that sets off the famed Flames goal horn. The plan is to bring that horn across the street to Scotia Place, too.
A fitting close to the ‘Dome
From the first time ice was laid back in 1983 until now, 44 historic seasons have come and gone. A Stanley Cup banner still hanging in the rafters, a flood whose mark remains within the walls, a full season played to empty seats—the ‘Dome has seen it all. When the Flames’ final goal horn echoes through the concourse, the team at the ‘Dome can finally give themselves a well-deserved pat on the back. They’ve done their job and the doors can close.
But between now and when that actually happens, if the tour is any indication, this year will feel different. In past seasons with a less-than-competitive team, the mood was mixed and the fan base was torn. This time around, there’s a palpable electricity in the air, as everyone who attends a game knows just how special it is this year. It’s a year-long last hurrah, after all.
Across the street
Meanwhile, progress on Scotia Place is coming along. CSEC knows all too well what the Saddledome means to the Flames community, and they will be bringing that feeling right across the street. From planning what they can take from the ‘Dome to the new arena, to whether there will be a chance for fans to buy the seats from the Dome, they are making plans all season long to make sure the transition to the new rink is as seamless as possible. The staff aren’t just moving the equipment across the way, they are moving memories too.
We want to make sure that when people walk into Scotia Place, it doesn’t feel like it has a new car smell… It’ll be beautiful. But it has to feel like home.
Susan Darrington
When the highly anticipated Scotia Place is complete, it will usher in a new era of Flames hockey and entertainment in Calgary, but anyone heading there can simply turn around and see the ‘Dome in all its former glory, with its keys handed back to the city and its silhouette still an unforgettable part of Calgary’s skyline for as long as it can be. Once those days are gone, all that’s left will be the memories.
Thank you, Saddledome. You’ve raised many athletes, fans, and families. See you later.
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