 The Canadiens and Flames face off at the 2011 Heritage Classic in Calgary | |
| National Hockey League | |
|---|---|
| First played | November 22, 2003 |
| Times Held | 7 |
| Teams Participated | 8 |
| Most Appearances | 3: Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers |
| Most Recent | 2023 Heritage Classic |
| Most Recent Winner | Edmonton Oilers |
The NHL Heritage Classic (French: La Classique Héritage de la LNH) is one of the series of regular season outdoor games played in the National Hockey League (NHL) that is held in football stadiums based in Canada. Unlike the NHL's other two series of outdoor games, the NHL Winter Classic and the NHL Stadium Series, the Heritage Classic has been held infrequently: only seven games have been played in the series so far, and the first five match-ups were exclusively between Canadian teams.
The inaugural Heritage Classic, hosted by the Edmonton Oilers at Commonwealth Stadium in 2003, was the first outdoor regular season game in NHL history and its success served as the precursor to outdoor hockey games played around the world. The second Heritage Classic, played at McMahon Stadium in Calgary in 2011, set sponsorship and revenue records.[1][2] The third Heritage Classic was hosted in Vancouver's BC Place stadium in 2014. The fourth game was hosted by Winnipeg at Investors Group Field, now known as IG Field,[3] in October 2016.[4] The fifth game was held on October 26, 2019, at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Saskatchewan.
The sixth Heritage Classic for 2022 was played at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario. The Toronto Maple Leafs made their first Heritage Classic appearance (they were the only Canadian team who had yet to play in a Heritage Classic, although they had appeared in a Winter Classic, the Centennial Classic and in one Stadium Series game), and played against the Buffalo Sabres, the first U.S. team appearing in a Heritage Classic.[5]
The seventh Heritage Classic was hosted by the Oilers for the 2nd time, with their opponent being the Calgary Flames in the first outdoor hockey Battle of Alberta.[6]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
CP-2011Sponsorshipwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
2011HCSuccesswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Dacey, Elisha (May 10, 2019). "Investors Group Field changing name to IG Field". Global News. Archived from the original on May 14, 2019. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
- ^ "Jets to host 2016 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic". NHL.com. March 6, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
2022 gamewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "2023 Heritage Classic will be a Battle of Alberta between the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers". FlamesNation. Retrieved December 11, 2022.