What’s a playoff series, in one of the most bitter rivalries in professional hockey, without a friendly wager or two?
After 31 years, the Battle of Alberta once again took the spotlight, with the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers starting their Best-of-Seven series Wednesday night. Though there were some nerves in play as the Oilers fought back, the Calgary Flames prevailed 9-6.
That gave the Flames bettors the early upper hand.
Round up of Battle of Alberta wagers
On May 16, mayors Jyoti Gondek and Amarjeet Sohi set a friendly wager between the two city leaders.
The losing city’s mayor and city council will have to wear the opposing team’s jersey. The losing team’s mayor will also be in full face paint, celebrating the opposing team, at the first council meeting following the end of the series.
“I’m confident that I will not be donning orange and blue paint at the June 7 council meeting, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing Mayor Sohi wearing the Flames ‘C’ on his face,” the mayor said at the time.
Calgary Police Chief Mark Neufeld and Edmonton Police Chief Dale McFee also matched the mayors’ bet. The Calgary Police tweeted about their wager Wednesday.
All the way from Ottawa and over Twitter, Canadian politician Kody Blois called on Calgary MP George Chahal and Edmonton’s MP Randy Boissonnault to wear their respective city’s team jerseys at the House of Commons.
Two Alberta universities are also jumping in on the wager front. Calgary’s Mount Royal University and Edmonton’s MacEwan University announced a bet between the two universities. The losing university will fly the flag of the winning team on its campus flagpole for a day.
The Canadian national men’s soccer team stars also made a Battle of Alberta bet, according to this Flames Nation piece.
The bet is between Sam Adekugbe, a Calgarian who plays for the Turkish club Hatayspor, and Alphonso Davies, from Edmonton who plays for Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga.
The bet between the two is, if Edmonton wins, Adekugbe will donate $2,000 to the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation and take a photo in an Oilers jersey. However, if Calgary wins, Davies will donate $2,000 to the Flames Foundation and take a photo in a Flames jersey.
Even NDP leader Rachel Notley and Calgary MLA Joe Ceci got in on the wager action.
Fans and businesses get into the spirit
Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers fans and businesses also took part in the wagers.
Butcher Corey Meyer of Edmonton and founder of Kent of Inglewood, Kevin Kent, bet to raise money for their local food banks.
The donation will be to the winner’s local Food Bank and the loser must wear the winning team jersey.
And in a sport quite familiar with wagers, the Windermere Golf & Country Club and the Earl Grey Golf Club got in on the action.
During an episode of Spittin’ Chiclets, retired NHL hockey player now working in the world of media with NHL on TNT and the Arizona Coyotes, and co-host of the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast Paul Bissonnette made a bet with his co-host Ryan Whitney.
If Calgary wins, Whitney will have to pierce his ear for a month. However, if Edmonton wins, Bissonnette has to shave his head on national television.
One of the weirder and funnier bets on Twitter between a Calgary Flames fan and her friend who is an Oilers fan, is the winner gets paid their weight in cat pictures.
