It's been said the more one loves, the more one hurts.
If that is true, the pain being felt all over shows that what Calgary had for Jarome Iginla was true love.
News of the trade harkened memories of what it was like when the Great One was traded to the Los Angeles Kings.
The former Flames captain may not be as accomplished as Wayne Gretzky - he's still searching for his Stanley Cup win - but he is arguably one of the best players in the world from the last decade. And unlike Gretzky, who was adored my Oilers fans and detested by most everyone else, few people will ever go on the record and say anything negative about the Alberta Olympic champion.
He's often referred to as the classiest man in the sport and was a true ambassador for Calgary and Canada, and that's why his departure has stung so many so deeply.
But this is only the latest of heart stingers since the Great One skipped town in the late 1980s.
Staff at the the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame and Museum picked some of their most hurtful moments since Aug. 1988.
There's the Edmonton Oilers' Stanley Cup finals in 2006, a run that could've ended in glory but instead finished in tears. There's Grant Fuhr's admission of drug use and his eventual suspension, and a host of other events that had sports fans checking their emotions over the last two decades.
"For me, it was the Flames' 2004 Stanley Cup finals," said Breanna Mielke, Collections and Exhibit Coordinator at the hall.
"That was kind of the time I was beginning to get into sports and it was such an exciting time. Hockey was really starting to come alive again .. in the province.
"So to finish the way it did, was heartbreaking for me."
Click below to see other sad moments in Alberta sports - as chosen by the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame - since the Great One got his house on the California coast.
