'Huge For Me'

Roch Carrier sealed his place in Canada’s literary canon in 1979 when he penned Le chandail de hockey, or in English, The Hockey Sweater.

“We lived in three places—the school, the church and the skating-rink—but our real life was on the skating-rink,” Carrier wrote in his short story, based on his own childhood experience and idolatry of the Rocket, Maurice Richard.

Saturday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome, Flames forward Jakob Pelletier will get to face the team he grew up watching in La Belle Province, when Calgary goes in search of a season series sweep against Montreal. Get tickets

Needless to say, Pelletier’s had this one circled on his calendar.

“Of course,” he said Friday morning. “It’s the team I grew up kind of watching, it’s going to be huge for me.

“Hopefully we get the win again here Saturday.”

Pelletier and the Flames have reason to feel good ahead of their Saturday showdown with the Habs, too.

Fresh off the heels of yet another third-period comeback in Thursday’s 4-1 win over Vegas, he feels as though the team rediscovered its stride after a run of difficult results.

“It’s a big win,” Pelletier said of Thursday’s triumph. “After three tough games the main thing for us was just to come back to our game plan and play a simple game for a full game.”

In his hometown Quebec City, Montreal was the chief NHL rival for a generation of fans, and according to Pelletier, those hard feelings from spirited battles in the 1980s and ’90s between the Canadiens and Nordiques carry over to the present day.

“Most of the people in Quebec (City) kind of hate the Habs,” Pelletier said, “but for me, I think it’s just going to be special to play against them.”

And that inter-city rivalry extended beyond the professional ranks, according to Pelletier.

Even in minor hockey, he recalls contests against Montreal meaning more, drawing comparisons to the long-standing rivalry between Calgary and Edmonton here at home.

“It’s probably the same as here, there’s a huge rivalry (between) Quebec and Montreal,” he said. “For me it’s just going to be the same thing as it was probably when I was probably eight or nine (years old), same thing for (Saturday).

“I think it’s just going to be special.”