Pals, this is the final season of hockey at the historic Scotiabank Saddledome.

Over the years, the Calgary Flames have played 101 playoff games in the Saddledome, primarily clustered across three lengthy post-season runs. While the 1989 run was definitely the most memorable for Flames fans, considering it ended with a Stanley Cup parade, the 2004 run is when a lot of recent fans fell in love with the team.

To commemorate that magical run, the Flames are wearing their retro 2004 jerseys (with the black flaming C) four times this season, one time apiece against their four 2004 playoff opponents. On Saturday, the Flames will wear the 2004 jerseys for the first time when they host the Detroit Red Wings.

And to commemorate that occasion, the Flames are bringing back the green hard hat, handing out 2,004 replicas to fans at the ‘Dome.

For those unfamiliar, back in 2003-04, Craig Conroy did two very significant things. First, he handed over the captaincy to an obscure teammate by the name of Jarome Iginla. Second, he decided to start a new team award, bringing over a tradition from the St. Louis Blues started by former teammate Kelly Chase in 1999: the hard hat.

As the story goes, when the season was about to begin, Conroy was looking for ideas for something to aid in team-building, eventually settling on the hard hat. According to an investigation of its origins at the time by Jean Lefebvre in the Calgary Herald, Conroy got the hard hat from then Flames equipment manager Gus Thorson:

The green hard hat was given to the Flames player who went the extra mile in a win – sometimes an unsung hero, sometimes the star of the game, and on one occasion backup goalie Roman Turek was awarded it for in a game he didn’t play in. It was up to the previous winner to select the next one, entirely based on their judgment. A sticker featuring the jersey number of the winner was added to the hard hat, and by the end of the season the back of it was absolutely covered in them,

After the 2004 playoffs, the green hard hat was donated to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

After the 2004-05 lockout, the Flames used a gold hard hat for a season and then an “all business” tie, then didn’t have a player of the game award for awhile. But over the years they’ve had one more often than not. Last season, the award was a red blazer that Rasmus Andersson won in the team’s golf tournament. This year, they’re using a white hard hat and a high-viz vest – legitimate construction wear – from the team’s recent tour of Scotia Place, the team’s upcoming arena.

One of the team’s most exciting seasons featured a green hard hat as a team award. And its final season also features a hard hat as a team award. History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme sometimes.

The Flames host the Red Wings at the ‘Dome on Saturday night.

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