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| Date | November 22, 2003 | |||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Commonwealth Stadium | |||||||||||||||
| City | Edmonton, Alberta | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 57,167 | |||||||||||||||
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The Heritage Classic was an outdoor ice hockey game played on November 22, 2003, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, between the Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens. It was the first National Hockey League (NHL) game to be played outdoors as a part of regular season play. The Heritage Classic concept was modeled after the success of the "Cold War" game between the University of Michigan and Michigan State University in 2001.[1]
The event took place in Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium in front of a crowd of 57,167, despite temperatures of close to −18 °C, −30 °C (−22 °F) with wind chill.[2] It was held to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Edmonton Oilers joining the NHL in 1979 and the 20th anniversary of their first Stanley Cup win in 1984. The CBC television broadcast drew 2.747 million viewers in Canada, the second-highest audience for a regular-season NHL game.[3] This was the first NHL game broadcast in HD on CBC.[4]
- ^ "Edmonton Oilers Heritage Website – Heritage Classic". Archived from the original on February 6, 2012. Retrieved October 15, 2006.
- ^ "Hourly Data Report for November 22, 2003". Canada's National Climate Archive. Environment Canada. Archived from the original on March 5, 2012. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
- ^ Iofrida, Chris (December 27, 2007). "The NHL moves outdoors". CBC Sports. Archived from the original on December 29, 2007. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
- ^ Zazula, John (October 20, 2016). "Nov. 22, 2003: Thousands brave cold at inaugural Heritage Classic". CBC News. Archived from the original on August 4, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2019.