Even more mysterious than where the Calgary Flames power play has gone is how 17th Avenue in Calgary became dubbed the Red Mile attracting tens of thousands of hockey fans during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
There are now several styles of Red Mile T-shirts. There's a banner outside the 17th Avenue bar Lucky that "Welcomes you to the Red Mile" and another one advertising a live Web cam at http://www.theredmile.ca. And now, the city made its first official unofficial Red Mile street sign and handed it to the Melrose Café & Bar, which for another unknown reason has become the heart of Flames support along this strip.
The Red Mile has become a genuine marketing phenomenon and there's a Calgary radio host to thank for it -- although she's not claiming bragging rights.
"I swear it's the JACK listeners," Mel Risdon said yesterday during a break from her afternoon show on 96.9 JACK FM. ". . . That's how it spread and got so popular."
On May 3, Ms. Risdon sauntered into work and opened the phone lines to announce a contest to rename 17th Avenue since hockey fans seem to be drawn to this downtown street known for its restaurants, bars and snowboard shops.
She received calls by the dozens with almost as many suggestions. Red Avenue. Flames Avenue. But as Ms. Risdon recalled: "Nobody actually said Red Mile."
That night, Ms. Risdon rifled through the suggestions, did some mixing and matching and thought about the recurrent red theme in the city -- the Flames, the Stampeders and the Stampede -- as she watched Calgary finish off Detroit in the Western Conference semi-final.
The next day, Ms. Risdon went on the air with her shortlist -- "Red Ave." and "the Red Mile" - and asked for a vote. The Red Mile won with 80 per cent support.
The first newspaper reference came on May 9, when The Calgary Sun referred to the contest. On May 12, the Calgary Herald made its first mention of the moniker. Before the May 19 game when Calgary went on to grab the Western Conference championship against San Jose, CBC's Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster Ron McLean referred to the celebrations waiting to happen along the Red Mile.
The next day, The Globe and Mail included the nickname in a front-page headline about the city's celebrations. That was the same day a Calgary Herald writer provided a lesson to fans in "Flamesspeak" describing the Red Mile as a "party hearty strip" about 14 blocks long.
Those 14 blocks, incidentally measure about 2.4 kilometres, so more like 1½ miles, but who's counting?
Even Flames captain Jarome Iginla has talked about fan support on the downtown strip.
"The Red Mile, that's why we play," he said.
After Calgary knocked off Detroit way back at the beginning of May, more than 10,000 people poured onto 17th Avenue, forcing police to close 10 blocks of it because of the crowd.
The throng has grown each game since with upwards of 55,000 people cruising the street after Saturday night's Stanley Cup final loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
But will the name stick?
To date, nobody has registered the name as a trademark. Calgary City Hall plans to hand out more Red Mile street signs to 17th Avenue businesses. (Ms. Risdon said the mayor is "breaking her heart" by not yet having offered one to the station.) But there's no plan -- at least yet -- to go through the lengthy public consultation process for an official rename or put up signs on posts out of fear of theft.
Some soaking up the atmosphere here on Saturday night weren't sure what to think about the name.
Jared Murray, 26, said he had heard only of Calgary's Electric Avenue until he recently moved here. The raucous bar strip along 11th Avenue was previously home to spontaneous sporting celebrations, but its weekend revellers have since been replaced by daytime shoppers on the lookout for trendy home decor.
As Mr. Murray walked along the Red Mile, he wasn't sure exactly what it should be called. "I just call it fun," he said.
Jodene Orr, a 29-year-old Calgarian, half-jokingly wondered why Canadians are using mile instead of kilometre.
"Honestly," she added, "it will be 17th [Ave.]again after the games are over."