In their time together here, back from the start of it all, Bobby and the Bearcat, Stewart and trainer Jim Murray, became the longest-running double-bill act down at the Saddledome:
The under-the-radar, behind-the-scenes footsoldier who'd re-located north out of the ashes of the Atlanta franchise (and would return to Georgia when the Thrashers joined the NHL in 1999) and the moustachioed, bald-pated, roller-skating, larger-than-life, self-proclaimed lil' potlicker from Okotoks.
"They were quite the duo," agrees left winger Colin Patterson, "Bearcat was the character. The energetic one. The face of it.
"Bobby, always smiling, just stayed in the background for the most part. And was just one of the best humans you'd find."
The two of them - Murray and Stewart - spent more time in each other's company than with their wives, Shirley and Sherri, over the winter months.
"Just a wonderful guy," says the Bearcat. "And so witty. So damned funny. He had one-liners that'd literally put you on the floor.
"Bobby started with the junior Canadiens and when Cliff Fletcher went to Atlanta, he took Bobby - just a kid then - with him. Then, of course, they both came to Calgary.
"Time, hours, they didn't mean anything to Bobby. Once the job was done, only then would he go about his own business. Which is why Cliff loved him. Which is why everyone loved him."
Thorsen, working then in hockey equipment repair, first met Stewart back in the '80s.
"Nowadays, everything is replaced. In those days, everything was fixed. And we helped with the fixing for the Flames. With Bobby it was all about team and getting it done. He was … selfless. That's probably the one word I'd use to describe him - selfless.
"It was all about getting the team ready to go; taking care of everybody under his watch."