Jamie Nye: The life of a five-year-old gambler

Sportsnet showed Game 7 of the 1986 Edmonton Oilers-Calgary Flames playoff series last night.

You know the game if you’re 40 or over.

Tie game. Steve Smith. Own goal.

Yeah, that one. It may be my earliest sports memory. I was five. My mom gave me a quarter that day for what I can’t remember. It was my first allowance.

Her best friend, who lived in Calgary, made a bet. The Flames would beat the Oilers. I’m a Canucks fan now, but back then I was everything Wayne Gretzky.

So I took the bet. The Oilers were back-to-back Stanley Cup champs after all, and I was pretty confident I was going to make that 25 cents into 50 pretty easily.

And then Steve Smith bounced the puck in off Grant Fuhr’s leg and gone was that shiny quarter.

So thanks, Sportsnet, for bringing that memory back. Although these retro games haven’t been all bad, I did get to watch Pavel Bure beat those same Flames in overtime in a Game 7 a few days ago.

Too bad I didn’t get my money back off that game.