Would love to have seen the meeting where @NHL figured out March 13 is when North America changes to daylight savings time. #HeritageClassic @mapleleafs https://t.co/xuIvxvrbIN
— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) January 25, 2022
The NHL stole the outdoor game from Canada. So occasionally, they give some crumbs back to Canada and we get a Heritage Classic. The clash in Hamilton at Tim Hortons Field features the Toronto Maple Leafs in a "home" game for the Buffalo Sabres. The game will start just after 4 pm EDT. That is an hour later than the original start time.
This will be Toronto's third outdoor game with previous stops in Ann Arbor, MI and BMO Field in Toronto. The CFL theme follows the 2019 Heritage Classic at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, the last outdoor game in Canada. The United States gets at least 2 outdoor games EVERY YEAR.
This game will mean that the outdoor games have been in every NHL and CFL city in Canada, except for Montréal.
Rogers Sportsnet and TVA Sports will carry the game in Canada while TNT makes its Heritage Classic debut in the United States.
While we haven't see a Rogers Sportsnet press release, Chris Cuthbert and Craig Simpson along with Kyle Bukauskas should be in Hamilton along with the studio crew of Ron MacLean and some combination of Kelly Hrudey, Jennifer Botterill, Elliotte Friedman, and Kevin Bieska. Hamilton native Eugene Levy will reportedly be part of the opening tease to the Sportsnet coverage.
Kenny Albert, Eddie Olczyk, and Keith Jones will call the game on TNT along with Wayne Gretzky. The TNT pregame show will be in Atlanta with Liam McHugh, Rick Tocchet, Anson Carter, and Paul Bissonnette.
The NHL Network in the United States is offering rebroadcasts of the game Monday at 2 pm (90 minutes) and Tuesday at Noon (2 hours). Hopefully, one of those rebroadcasts will be the Rogers Sportsnet feed.
While there is careful consideration for content opposite the U.S. outdoor games, the U.S. channel is showing a minor-league hockey game opposite the 2022 Heritage Classic.
NHL the month in preview March 2022
"Hamilton, a port city known for its steel mills situated on the western edge of Lake Ontario, is roughly halfway between the two cities along the Queen Elizabeth Way highway, a stretch known as 'The Golden Horseshoe' for the way the land hooks around the lake. Scotiabank Arena, home of the Maple Leafs, is 43 miles from Tim Hortons Field. KeyBank Center, the Sabres' arena, is 62 miles away."
The NHL is trying to explain why Hamilton is a logical spot for this game and why the Buffalo Sabres are the first U.S. team to play in a Heritage Classic. The Sabres were the first hosts of an U.S. outdoor game.
2019 Heritage Classic wrapup
The Canadian women's hockey team will be honoured during the second intermission for their gold-medal performances at the 2022 Winter Olympics and the 2021 World Championship. Sarah Nurse is from Hamilton.
You can catch up on Heritage Classic news from the NHL, including a guide on how to get to the stadium.
CanadianCrossing.com music coverage
Grammy award-winning Canadian artist Alessia Cara will perform during the first intermission of the game. American singer Willow will perform in Hamilton before the game, a show that will be livestreamed on @NHL on TikTok starting at 2:45 pm EDT.
Lindsay Ell, host of Canada's Got Talent, will perform the anthems.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers are back-to-back Grey Cup champions
The original concept of the 2016 Heritage Classic was to follow soon after the 2015 Grey Cup in Winnipeg. The NHL put artificial pressure on the Blue Bombers to put the hockey game too soon after the 2015 Grey Cup. The October timing in 2016 produced a less than ideal outdoor game where the temperatures were too warm.
The Heritage Classic will be about 3 months after the 2021 Grey Cup at Tim Hortons Field.
With the 2022 Tim Hortons NHL #HeritageClassic set for Sunday in Hamilton, a historic look at what the Toronto Arenas jersey represents in the storied @MapleLeafs franchise. https://t.co/IBncLyVUxD
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 9, 2022
If you are a NHL player and enjoy playing in outdoor games, playing for the 6 other Canadian teams means very little opportunity to chase that dream. Connor McDavid has played in a single outdoor game, the 2016 Heritage Classic in Winnipeg. For as long as Jeff Petry and Carey Price have been with the Montréal Canadiens, they haven't played an outdoor game at home.
You could have argued the same was true if you played for a U.S. Southern team but that excuse has disappeared.
Gary Bettman threatened loudly to move the 2022 NHL Draft out of Montréal if there couldn't be a full building. Would be nicer if Bettman said Montréal would get a future draft if that needs to happen.
Bettman won't schedule a Heritage Classic (for the years where Canada is lucky to get one) in Montréal. The largest city in Quebec has 2 great locations (Stade Molson, Stade Saputo) and a questionable locale (Stade Olympique). The Heritage Classic in Vancouver was essentially in a domed stadium.
Boston will host its 3rd outdoor game while Montréal hasn't had the honour once.
NHL the month in preview December 2019
Regina is the 14th Canadian city – and second in Saskatchewan – to play host to a regular-season NHL game (indoors or outdoors). #NHLStats #HeritageClassic pic.twitter.com/jTyissSQWl
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) October 27, 2019
| NHL games played in Hamilton | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Matchup | ||||||||||||||||
| October 20, 1992 | Toronto 5, Ottawa 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| November 17, 1992 | Quebec 3, Toronto 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| November 18, 1992 | New Jersey 3, Buffalo 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| March 1, 1993 | Vancouver 5, Buffalo 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| November 18, 1993 | NY Islanders 5, Montréal 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| January 4, 1994 | Tampa Bay 1, Toronto 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| February 22, 1994 | Florida 3, Winnipeg 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| March 23, 1994 | Florida 1, Toronto 1 | ||||||||||||||||
We know Hamilton is one of those 14 Canadian cities. Copps Coliseum in downtown Hamilton, as the arena was known then, hosted 8 NHL games between 1992 and 1994 as part of the NHL hosting games in neutral sites.
Toronto went 1-2-1 in Hamilton during the experiment while Buffalo went 0-2.
We begged the NHL Public Relations on Twitter to let us know the 14th city. We could only find 13 cities.
- Winnipeg, Montréal, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, Kanata, Vancouver — current Canadian cities with a NHL franchise
- Quebec City — Canadian city with a previous NHL franchise
- Ottawa — early NHL days and the 2017 NHL 100 Classic
- Saskatoon, Hamilton, Halifax — Canadian cities that hosted NHL games from 1992-1994
- Regina — 2019 Heritage Classic host
Ottawa and Hamilton had old-time NHL franchises. As far as we know, they didn't play outside their cities. The early 1990s experiment brought 8 games to Hamilton; 6 to Saskatoon; and 3 to Halifax.
We would love to know the missing Canadian city.
CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
The Canadian NHL outdoor games have had multiple headings not all falling into the Heritage Classic motif. Canadian teams got to play in the 2014 and 2016 versions of the Winter Classic.
Ottawa is 2-0 in outdoor games while Toronto is 2-1 in outdoor games. Montréal has played 4 outdoor games, going 2-2, none of them in La Belle Province.
Canadian NHL teams in outdoor games
| Year | Date | Stadium | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | November 22 | Commonwealth Stadium | Montréal 4, Edmonton 3 |
| 2011 | February 20 | McMahon Stadium | Calgary 4, Montréal 0 |
| 2014 | January 1 | Michigan Stadium | Toronto 3, Detroit 2 (SO) |
| 2014 | March 2 | BC Place | Ottawa 4, Vancouver 2 |
| 2016 | January 1 | Gillette Stadium | Montréal 5, Boston 1 |
| 2016 | October 23 | Investors Group Field | Edmonton 3, Winnipeg 0 |
| 2017 | January 1 | BMO Field | Toronto 5, Detroit 4 (SO) |
| 2017 | December 16 | TD Place | Ottawa 3, Montréal 0 |
| 2018 | March 3 | Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium | Washington 5, Toronto 2 |
| 2019 | October 26 | Mosaic Stadium | Winnipeg 2, Calgary 1 (OT) |
photo credit: NHL
Twitter capture: @cnadian_xing; @PR_NHL (x2)
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