Royalty attends Heritage Classic in Calgary!‏

2011 Heritage Classic

The first time the NHL decided to have a regular season game outdoors was back on November 22, 2003 when the Montreal Canadiens played the Edmonton Oilers at Commonwealth Stadium home the of Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.

Unfortunately the King and I missed that one.

When the NHL schedule came out back in late June I knew they were going to play another outdoor game North of the Border. This time it was going to be in McMahon Stadium which is the home of the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL.

Ironically the matchup involved the Montreal Canadiens again.

In addition, it featured a rematch of the 1989 Stanley Cup Finals which I saw Game 4 in the Old Forum in Montreal back on May 21, 1989 after I saw the Expos play that afternoon. The Flames won that game, 4-2! They eventually went on to win the Stanley Cup in six games. 

Once  I knew all the schedules I pieced together this journey to Western Canada. The Heritage Classic was the centerpiece.

I kept looking at the Flames website to see when tickets were going on sale for this special event.

Finally on December 10th they said they would be selling tickets on Ticketmaster. So I proceeded to secure us a few single seats so we could be part of the festivities.

Sunday it was finally time for us to witness more history.

The King and I have been to three of the four different Winter Classics. Those being in Buffalo, Boston and most recently in Pittsburgh.

Now it was time for our first Heritage Classic.

The stage was set now we just had to get to McMahon Stadium to see it live.

After we left Red Deer, we ate breakfast at a place called Smitty's Restaurant. It's been in business just over 50 years in Canada. Needless to say, it was really good.

We got back on the road and we drove to our hotel near the Calgary airport and we were able to check in early which worked out well.

Now we were ready to brave the elements and enjoy the game of hockey the way it's supposed to be played in the great outdoors on a frozen pond.

We arrived at McMahon Stadium at 3PM which gave us plenty of time to get ready for the 4PM start.

We parked the car in the neighborhood nearby and walked over.

We saw mobs of people heading towards the stadium. I said to myself what a great day it's going to be.

Luckily for us we were able to avoid the majority of the crowd as we made our way into the Stadium.

Since the stadium opened in 1960 the walkways inside were rather narrow so moving around the concourse was a struggle.

Once we finally got settled everything worked out beautifully.

We wound up sitting near the blue line with a great view of the action.

Let it be known, like all the other outdoor games we've attended in the past most of the seats were bad.

People like to go more for the experience and the uniqueness of the event. We do too but we want to see and score the game too.

As far as I'm concerned, we had the best seats in the house. We were able to follow the game without too much difficulty.

More importantly I had the privilege and honor of meeting a few people there who came down from Edmonton and were Flames fans. They were Linda Dahlin and Greg Penkala. They were very nice people and I enjoyed their company very much throughout the game. Greg's brother, Chris was there as well. Chris is a Canadien fan as he was all dressed up with his jersey on.

Unlike his brother Greg and Linda it was a bad day for him as his Canadiens didn't even score a goal as they lost 4-0! It was the first ever shutout ever in outdoor game history.

Flames goalie Mikka Kiprusoff made 39 saves as the Flames won. Rene Bourque scored two goals to lead the way.

 As for the crowd as a whole, it seemed to be more Flames fans than Canadiens fans but I know the majority of them were passionate hockey fans.

It was billed as a once in a lifetime experience. The chances of another outdoor game being played in Calgary is very slim.

I do hope that in the future they do play another one somewhere in Canada. I would gladly welcome the opportunity to see it.

Unlike in Pittsburgh on New Year's night where the weather was unseasonably warm and it even rained at times, the weather this time was more suited for the event.

The game time temperature was 8.6 degrees Celsius which is around 17 degrees Farenheit to give you an idea. The wind was howling too. Fortunately for us we were protected from the wind during the game. We were dressed properly for the elements so we were able to survive.

The ice was rather rough and chippy as a result so they needed to fix it on a few occasions. It was the same for both teams but apparently it effected the Canadiens more since they were unable to score.

Overall I thought it was a great time. The NHL has done a wonderful job creating a niche for itself with these outdoor games. I just hope they don't over do it in the future.

Once they announce the next one, Royalty will be all ready to go.

With that being said, if you want to be a part of it too all you have to do is let me know so I can arrange it for you.

After the game we went out to have dinner at the Toad 'N' Turtle Pubhouse and Grill which was located a few blocks from our hotel.

Monday morning we flew back home. We had a slight change in plans as Delta Airlines rerouted us to American Airlines to go from Calgary to Chicago due to bad weather in Minneapolis. We took a Delta flight back to New York from Chicago.

Everything worked out well for us in the end.

Another epic excursion is in the history books.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman