Harvey the Hound

History

Grant Kelba created and performed Harvey the Hound, who first appeared in 1983. Harvey started as the mascot for the Calgary Flames and later also served as a second mascot for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. The character was so well-liked by Flames fans that other teams reached out to Kelba to design mascots for them. Harvey’s first game was on February 16, 1984, when the Flames crushed the Pittsburgh Penguins 10–3 at the Olympic Saddledome. Lanny McDonald and Doug Risebrough each scored three goals that night, and Harvey has been a regular presence at Flames games and community events across Calgary and southern Alberta ever since. While Kelba managed the mascot, the NHL invited Harvey to seven All-Star Games and sent him to Japan to promote the league. In 1996, Kelba sold Harvey to the Flames but continued performing as the mascot until he retired in 1999.

A memorable incident occurred on January 20, 2003, during a Flames game against the Edmonton Oilers at the Pengrowth Saddledome. With Calgary leading 4–0, Harvey was taunting the Oilers behind their bench. Players squirted him with water, and Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish reached up, grabbed Harvey’s tongue, ripped it off, and threw it into the crowd. The Oilers then scored three quick goals, but the Flames held on to win 4–3. After the game, MacTavish joked, “Once we got the tongue out of his mouth, we started to turn things around a little bit. If we scored that last goal to tie it, I was looking for Harvey the Hound.” The story made headlines across North America and sparked jokes, including several other NHL mascots showing up at the 2003 All-Star Game with their tongues hanging out.

Harvey also had a long-running, playful feud with TSN broadcaster Gary Green, which started in the late 1980s when Green was covering games for the rival Winnipeg Jets. Whenever Green worked a game at the Saddledome, Harvey would hold up a sign making fun of the broadcaster, and Green would respond on air with mock annoyance. More recently, Harvey partnered with the Healthy Paws Forward Veterinary Hospital, the official veterinarian for Calgary’s mascots, to create the Harvey’s Hounds pet cutout section in the Saddledome. This program lets fans have their pets’ pictures displayed in the arena while supporting a charitable cause.