Jay Feaster's Letter to the Fans (Oct. 4)

My dearest Flames fans,

We, the Calgary Flames, have been informed that the NHL has indeed cancelled the first two weeks of the regular season, due to the current lockout and labour situation.  Regrettably, we will not be able to give our season ticket holders our inconsistent efforts to start the season, but as you may or may not agree, this could be very advantageous for our hockey club.

As the general manager of an NHL club that hasn't made the playoffs since 2009, I have come to notice that the number of games in the regular season has been one of our biggest detractors, in terms of making the playoffs.  So, with two weeks stricken from the schedule, we, as upper management, believe that this could be very beneficial to our team, since this would start our usual hot streak at the beginning of the season a little later than normal, taking away time from our sub-par mid-season form and getting us to our more desperate run for the 8th and final playoff spot a little sooner.

Of course, there is no guarantee that we will see hockey in the 2012-2013 season, so I would then recommend booking your tickets to our other sports operations that are based out of the Scotiabank Saddledome, which will keep our ownership group with a steady stream of income, while their flagship operation is still undergoing labour pains.

We appreciate your patience is this tough time and hope that the new bandwagon you have chosen to jump on during the lockout isn't too comfortable (or successful), so we can have your dollars flowing through our organization again in the coming months.

Lots of love, hugs and kisses, yours forever and always,

Jay Feaster
General Manager
Calgary Flames