For a 19-year-old just starting his career, Dana Murzyn's decision to buy his first house in the picture-perfect town of Farmington, Connecticut, 10 miles west of Hartford, seemed like nothing more than a logical step.

Southwest Calgary born and raised, Mike Vernon knows his way in and around this city the way he knows his way around a game-, series- and title-saving overtime glove save off Stan Smyl.

Three decades ago, the small, acrobatic goaltender morphed into an authentic hometown hero when he helped deliver a Stanley Cup championship to the Calgary Flames.

As one of the ablest shutdown wingers of his generation, Colin Patterson has always been a details guy.

When Robyn Regehr arrived for his first Calgary Flames training camp, projections were naturally guarded, given the extraordinary circumstances.

He was, at the time, a long way from becoming the soundtrack of an NHL franchise for an entire generation, a Foster Hewitt Award recipient, a Hockey Hall of Fame inductee and one of the most respected names in the play-by-play business. In fact, the idea of going on to call 2,954 NHL games would've quite likely made 26-year-old Peter Maher question his sanity.

However, back in 1975, in his hometown of Campbellton, N.B., Maher was a mighty busy fellow, nonetheless.

Raised in Acadia, the neighbourhood where he learned to love the game, Tim Hunter admits he still has fond memories and an affinity for Calgary's southeast.

Ivanie Blondin moved to Calgary from Ottawa in 2010 to switch from short-track to long-track speed skating. It turned out to be a smart move, both for her career and for her lifestyle.

Over the course of his time in the NHL, Jamie Macoun embodied all the intangibles hockey folks prize so highly: dependability, competitiveness and an innate will to excel.

These days, two decades on from his playing career, he brings those same attributes to his work as the driving force behind Macoun Real Estate in Calgary.

Perry Berezan was 24 years old and in his fourth NHL season by early spring of 1989, part of a carefully crafted Calgary Flames team teetering on the precipice of history.