On Oct. 15, 1983, the puck dropped for a National Hockey League game at the Olympic Saddledome for the very first time.

The opening puck drop was, to be blunt, a long time coming.

Construction of the Saddledome began at the end of July 1981, after the provincial government intervened to ensure that zoning changes would be approved in time. That intervention ended months of community opposition to building an arena in Victoria Park; oddly enough, the Stampede Corral had already existed in the community for three decades, but the thought was building a larger arena across the street would be disruptive – or at least more disruptive than the Corral had been.

Building a more modern area to replace the Corral was, itself, a decades-long process. The Corral had been home to several hockey teams for decades, but in the 1970s it was deemed insufficient to host major league hockey – the NHL shared that verdict when the World Hockey Association was exploring a merger potentially involving the Calgary Cowboys – and the Stampede Board’s long-rumoured plans to expand the Corral’s capacity never came to fruition.

But the parallel paths of the city’s third Olympic bid and the arrival of the Flames from Atlanta finally got things over the finish line. A few months after construction began, the International Olympic Committee awarded Calgary the 1988 Olympics.

The Flames began the 1983-84 season on a three game road trip, going 1-1-1. Their first game at the Saddledome was on a Saturday night, and the first half of a back-to-back, home and home set with the Edmonton Oilers.

For the curious, the first-ever fight at the Saddledome was between Mark Messier and Jim Peplinski.

The Flames played five more road games before returning home, going 1-4-0 on that road trip, returning home on Oct. 26 to face St. Louis with a 2-6-1 record. They beat the Blues by a 5-4 score for their first home win at the Saddledome.