The Battle of Alberta won’t just be fought on the ice as Oilers, Flames meet

The first stone has been cast in this year’s Battle of Alberta.

Ahead of Wednesday’s series opener between the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers, the greatest Oiler to lace up skates has backed the other team to prevail.

Wayne Gretzky, who famously scored a short-handed overtime winner against the Flames in the 1988 Stanley Cup playoffs, has picked Calgary to advance to the conference final in his role as an analyst for TNT. His bracket was revealed Monday after the Great One went eight for eight in clairvoyantly picking the first-round winners.

As a former Oiler himself, current Flames forward Milan Lucic gave an educated guess as to how that went down in the Alberta capital.

“I’m sure they don’t like it, but he’s just giving his expert opinion,” the Calgary winger laughed Tuesday.

After three years in Edmonton and three years in Calgary, Lucic knows as well as anyone the inner workings of the provincial rivalry. He’s also become an expert in managing relationships that extend across the competitive divide, admitting that those friendships won’t exist “for the next however many days.”

Such is the intensity of the first playoff meeting between the two Alberta teams since 1991, the rivalry has spilled over the boards and into the streets and offices of both cities.

Channelling the famous Seinfeld scene in which the character David Puddy puts on full New Jersey Devils face paint, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek has made a wager with her Edmonton counterpart, Amarjeet Sohi, with the loser having to put on face paint and wear the jersey of the other team to council meetings.

“Everyone wants their home team to win and especially when it’s against Edmonton,” she said. “Oh my goodness, how could you not be cheering for Calgary if you live down…