2011 NHL Heritage Classic

The 2011 NHL Heritage Classic is a scheduled outdoor regular season National Hockey League (NHL) game that will pit the Montreal Canadiens against the Calgary Flames at McMahon Stadium, located on the campus of the University of Calgary inCalgary, Alberta, Canada. The game is scheduled for February 20, 2011 at 4:00PMMST, and will be the second outdoor game of the 2010–11 NHL season, following theWinter Classic. The game's title sponsor is Tim Hortons.^[1] As part of the weekend festivities for the Classic, the Abbotsford Heat will host the Oklahoma City Barons in an American Hockey League (AHL) game at the Scotiabank Saddledome on February 18 while the Calgary Hitmen will face the Regina Pats outdoors on February 21 in a Western Hockey League (WHL) game.

Teams and venue

The Flames lobbied the NHL for the opportunity to host an outdoor game for some time. They unsuccessfully sought to host a second outdoor game as part of a doubleheader with the 2010 NHL Winter Classic in Boston. It will be the first outdoor game for the Flames in their franchise history but will mark the second time the Canadiens have participated in one. The Edmonton Oilers hosted Montreal in 2003 as part of the first Heritage Classic.

The game will be played at McMahon Stadium, the usual home of the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League and theUniversity of Calgary Dinos. McMahon has a usual capacity of 35,650 but will have additional seating added for the event. The unpredictability of the weather in Calgary will present a challenge for organizers. The average temperatures for February 20 range between 1 °C (34 °F) and −11 °C (12.2 °F) degrees for the highs and lows, but the records are 18 °C (64 °F) (1995) and −38 °C (−36 °F) (1884).The Flames were inundated with complaints from season ticket holders upset by their seat assignments and the cost of tickets. Team president Ken King responded to the concerns by noting that the league had purchased the game from the Flames, and the team was given a limited allotment of seats for its ticket holders. He also noted that it was possible that the event would lose money, even at ticket prices ranging between $49 and $249, but that the team brought the Heritage Classic to Calgary because the fans wanted the game to return to Canada. The Pittsburgh Penguins encountered similar issues allocating tickets for the Winter Classic.

Uniforms

As with other outdoor games, there will be special jerseys for the event. The Flames uniform is maroon with burnt yellow stripes and tan pants and is a replica of the jerseys worn by theCalgary Tigers of the 1920s with the Flaming C in place of their logo. Prior to its revelation, team president Ken King had stated the uniform would represent a period in Calgary's hockey history that predated the existence of the Flames. The Tigers were the first professional hockey team in Calgary's history and were members of the Western Canada Hockey League of the 1920s, winning the league championship in 1924 before losing that year's Stanley Cup Final to the Canadiens. Montreal will wear a classic version of their current road uniform.