whenever I say (I write!) hockey, I mean ice hockey. Calgary is not a good team in NHL, compare to the other Canadian teams. Can say it's the weakest. Don't know why. They didn't go to playoffs in past two seasons. (2001-02 and 2002-03) Edmonton is a bit better. It was present in playoffs last season but lost to Dallas in the first round. But they have a a key player: Jerome Iginla. He was the score leader of NHL in 2001-02 and also a member of Team Canada, (Meaning Canadian National Ice Hokey Team, I don't know why they call it that!) that beat the US in 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.
But the point here is hockey and also other sports like football (Not soccer!), baseball, golf and basketball are big businesses in North America.