Opinion: Finally, thanks to Calgary Flames, we are all waving a flag that can keep up.

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After months of enduring weekly anti-vax, anti-government, and anti-restriction protests in Calgary, I’ve become accustomed to seeing the Canadian flag hung on cars and trucks as a rebellious act. People in these cars pass through our normally quiet towns and swing their extreme positions so that everyone can see them. Shoe-polished protests obscure their windows — “Order Freedom!” “F-Trudeau” and “Support Our Trackers.”

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It’s not uncommon to encounter one or two of these decorated cars when I go to a grocery store or take my kids to school. This is an unpleasant cry for the normally quiet Canadian landscape. My blood pressure boils every time and I shake my head so that it doesn’t get in the way right away. I saw one truck flying the Russian flag. The irony of their call for freedom while raising the Russian flag is more than I can handle.

Most Calgarians are unable to understand these protests, especially as all Alberta missions were completed a few months ago. “What are they protesting?” Ectenia among sane Canadians. “What more do they want?” Their protests are especially ridiculous when refugees from Ukraine escape real persecution, escape real human rights abuses and pour into Calgary.

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With all the divisions of the last few years and the further divisions brought about by the protesters, it seemed unbelievable that we could get together again. But that happened. And it’s as Canadian as ketchup chips and poutine. Enter hockey, Canada’s favorite pastime.

I haven’t paid much attention to hockey for the past few years, mainly because of the pandemic. The season was interrupted by the outbreak of COVID and the game was played without a live audience. In the closed days, watching games seemed unnecessary.

But this year hockey is back. The fans are back on the stand and Calgary Flames can be very focused. In fact, it’s enough to take part in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2015. And we at Calgary Flames love flames. The city is small enough that everyone gathers around the team in a way that they have never experienced in a big city. Calgary loves them so much that when Flames is playing, almost everyone in the game wears a red jersey with the names of their favorite players (Gaudreau, Monahan, Tkachuk).

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The name for this phenomenon is because it’s part of Calgary hockey — the C of Red — the arena is a blanket of red jerseys from ice to rafters. When tickets for these playoff games were sold out, the city opened a free viewing area in front of Scotiabank Saddle Dome with a large TV screen for fans who couldn’t get tickets. Thousands of people watched the game together. Local schools encourage children to wear jerseys in class and adults to wear jerseys on game days. Last Sunday, two people wore them in the loft of my church choir. My dog ​​Oliver even has a jersey that he wears when walking around the block. Everyone is involved in flame mania.

When the flag first began to appear in the car, I should have noticed that it was part of the frenzy of fire, but the car flag recently means protesters. The first few made me double take, but now, after seeing dozens of cars with the flag of fire, my heart no longer sinks, and my blood pressure no longer soars plug. Oh, it’s just a fan of flames! Go, flame, go! The flag that divided us has been replaced by the flag that unites us! When watching Game 7, the decisive game between Calgary Flames and the Dallas Stars, the winner was advancing to the next level of the march towards the Stanley Cup, but no division was seen. Everyone who supports the same team — all radicals for good reason — the right to brag.

How long will this last? As long as the flames are in the playoffs, I guess. After that, all bets will be invalidated, but its united front in a way that connects us to solve the most pressing problems of our city, such as affordable housing, unemployment, flood control and infrastructure. I would like to move forward. But for now, it’s enough for us all to be behind the boy on the ice. Go, flame, go!

Sina Trotter-Dennis is a fan of rejuvenated Calgary Flames.