With Calgary Flames extinguished, Wranglers are ready to rumble on revamped home ice

It's an analogy well-suited for the hearts of Calgary Flames fans.

Staff at the Saddledome have sliced out the flaming C logo at centre ice, replacing it with a burning W. 

For the next few months, the Saddledome is truly home to the Calgary Wranglers.

"We're disappointed the Flames aren't in, but this is the team, the Wranglers are in," said Mike Moore, vice president and alternate governor of the Wranglers.

"We're excited to be able to put the logo in and play on that logo with the players and the fans that have supported us all year long and the new ones that are going to come out."

While the Flames' playoff run was over before it began, the Wranglers — the Flames' affiliate team — ended their season as winners of the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy, which is handed out to the American Hockey League's overall regular-season champions.

They've also earned a first-round bye in the 2023 Calder Cup Playoffs and will have home-ice advantage throughout their run.

Head coach Mitch Love was also awarded the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award, given to the AHL's most outstanding coach, for a second straight season.

"I always tell people it's a team award," Love said in an interview with The Homestretch Monday.

"I give our guys a lot of credit, and I'm extremely proud of them for what they were able to do in the regular season."

A well-balanced, talented team, great coaching and exceptional goaltending by Dustin Wolf are what led to the Wranglers to their success, according to Moore.

"But I know the motivation for everybody in that dressing room, and all of us in the building, is a championship, and we're going to pull together and see what we can do to be hoisting that trophy in June," he said.

Season turnaround

The team's prospects didn't always look so rosy. 

They lost five of their first seven games of the season, but Love said he thinks they just needed a bit of time to adjust.

This year marked the Wrangler's first season in Calgary. They were formerly the Stockton Heat, playing in Stockton, California. The team also added, and lost, several players through free agency in the offseason, he said, so it took time for everyone to mesh as a unit.

"Some individuals having some slow starts that found their game as we went along, and then you start to slide guys in certain roles for your hockey team and they start to understand what their jobs are each and every day," Love said.

"That's what this level is all about is the progression piece of advancing and getting better each and every year in your development and then you just try to play with consistency."

LISTEN | Wranglers head coach Mitch Love explains the team's reaction to their success:

Love says his team has earned some time off to rest, then they'll get to preparing for their first playoff opponent. They won't know who that is until Sunday.

Just as the team needed some time to jell, Love says the fans in Calgary slowly started to embrace the Wranglers throughout their season.

He's hoping they'll show up in droves to support the team through the playoffs.

"I think that's going to be where we'll see a lot of good, loyal hockey fans in the city come out, and our guys are excited to play in front of them," Love said.

The first and second games of the Wrangler playoff run happen April 26 and 28 at the Saddledome.