The Heritage Classic was an outdoor

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

game played on November 22, 2003, in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, between the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

and the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

. It was the first

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(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 , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and Michigan State University in 2001. The game was given the tagline "A November to Remember". The event took place in Edmonton's

Commonwealth Stadium Commonwealth Stadium is an open-air, multipurpose stadium located in the McCauley neighbourhood of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It has a seating capacity of 56,302, making it the largest open-air stadium in Canada. Primarily used for Canadian fo ...

in front of a crowd of 57,167, despite temperatures of close to −18 °C, −30 °C (−22 °F) with wind chill. 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 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. The CBC television broadcast drew 2.747 million viewers in Canada, the second-highest audience for a regular-season NHL game. This was the first NHL game broadcast in HD on CBC. First, the ''MegaStars'' game was played between some of the best former players from both clubs. The Oilers were represented by the best players from their 1980s dynasty, led by

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

. The Canadiens were represented by players from their 1970s dynasty, led by

Guy Lafleur Guy Damien Lafleur (September 20, 1951 – April 22, 2022), nicknamed "the Flower" and "Le Démon Blond", was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He was the first player in National Hockey League (NHL) history to score 50 goals in six c ...

, and a few members of the 1986 and 1993 championship squads. Both teams were composed of players who had won Stanley Cups with the Oilers or Canadiens, except for the Oilers' first NHL captain,

Ron Chipperfield Ronald James Chipperfield (born March 28, 1954) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who served as the Edmonton Oilers' first National Hockey League (NHL) captain. He played for the Oilers in both the World Hockey Association (WHA) ...

, and the Canadiens'

Russ Courtnall Russell William Courtnall (born June 2, 1965) is a Canadian former ice hockey player. He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Minnesota North Stars, Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings. Court ...

, who Rejean Houle said was selected for his speed.

Cam Connor Cameron Duncan Connor (born August 10, 1954) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward and a Stanley Cup winner. Connor was inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame in October 2015. Early life Connor grew up best friends with ...

and Mark Napier were the only players that played for both the Oilers and the Canadiens during their NHL careers; both played for the Canadiens during the game. Mark Messier, the only active player at the time, received special permission from the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

front office to compete for Edmonton in the game and was the only player in the game to wear a helmet. The ''MegaStars'' game consisted of two 15-minute halves rather than three 20-minute periods, and was won by the Oilers by a score of 2–0. After the game, Messier jokingly called the low-scoring contest "a typical Oilers win," a reference to the numerous high-scoring games of the Oilers' heyday in the 1980s. The second game was an official NHL regular season contest between the Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens. Montreal won the game 4–3.

Richard Zednik Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

of the Canadiens scored the first

goal A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ...

of the game, and also scored the game-winner. Goaltender

Jose Theodore Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. * Jose ben Abin * Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galile ...

wore a Canadiens

tuque A knit cap is a piece of knitted headwear designed to provide warmth in cold weather. It usually has a simple tapered shape, although more elaborate variants exist. Historically made of wool, it is now often made of synthetic fibers. Found ...

over the top of his

goalie mask A goaltender mask, commonly referred to as a goalie mask, is a mask worn by goaltenders in a variety of sports to protect the head and face from injury from the ball or puck, as they constantly face incoming shots on goal. Some sports requiring th ...

. The game was released to

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

by the CBC, and included special features such as player interviews. Following the success of the Heritage Classic, in 2008 the league began a series of Winter Classics, an outdoor regular season game played annually on New Year's Day, which to date have all taken place in American-based NHL cities. The first NHL game to be played outdoors was an exhibition game on September 27, 1991, when the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

played the New York Rangers outside Caesars Palace in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. The next outdoor game to be awarded by the league to a Canadian-based NHL city was the

2011 Heritage Classic The 2011 Heritage Classic was a regular season outdoor National Hockey League (NHL) game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Calgary Flames. The game was played at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on February 20, 2011. The Flame ...

in Calgary, part of the Heritage Classic series of games.

Game summary

:''Number in parenthesis represents the player's total in goals or assists to that point of the season''

Team rosters

: Steve Valiquette dressed for the Edmonton Oilers as the back-up goalie and did not enter the game.
Mathieu Garon dressed for the Montreal Canadiens as the back-up goalie and did not enter the game.

Scratches

*Montreal Canadiens:

Donald Audette Donald Daniel Audette (born September 23, 1969) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played fourteen seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Buffalo Sabres, Los Angeles Kings, Atlanta Thrashers, Dallas Stars, Mont ...

(ankle), Ron Hainsey (healthy),

Marcel Hossa Marcel Hossa (; born 12 October 1981) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey left winger. Hossa previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Phoenix Coyotes, having been drafted by ...

(healthy) *Edmonton Oilers:

Alexei Semenov Alexei Semenov may refer to: * Alexei Semenov (mathematician) (born 1950) is a Russian mathematician * Alexei Semenov (ice hockey) (born 1981) is a Russian former professional ice hockey defenceman {{hndis, Semenov, Alexei ...

(healthy),

Tony Salmelainen Tony Salmelainen (born August 8, 1981) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward. He last played for HIFK of the Finnish Liiga in 2013. He was originally drafted by the Edmonton Oilers as their second-round pick in the 1999 NHL Entry D ...

(healthy), Peter Sarno (healthy)

Officials

Referees A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

—

Dan Marouelli Dan Marouelli (born July 16, 1955, in Edmonton, Alberta) is an ex-National Hockey League referee, who wore uniform number 6 from the 1994–95 NHL season until his retirement. Career Marouelli's NHL career started on November 2, 1984, and wore a ...

Kevin Pollock Kevin Pollock (born February 7, 1970) is a Canadian ice hockey official. He has worked in the National Hockey League since the 1999–2000 NHL season, and officiated in ice hockey at the 2014 Winter Olympics – Men's tournament. Career Kevi ...

* Linesmen —

Greg Devorski Greg Devorski (born August 3, 1969 in Guelph, Ontario) is a National Hockey League linesman since the 1993–94 NHL season, who wears uniform number 54 since the 1994–95 NHL season.http://www.nhlofficials.com/member_listing.asp?member_id=2268 G ...

Randy Mitton Randy Mitton (born September 22, 1950, in Fredericton, New Brunswick) is a retired National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comp ...

References

External links

CBC build-up: Video Game Showdown

Sabres to host Penguins at Ralph Wilson Stadium

Ice is nice at Fenway for Bruins
{{Navboxes, list1= {{2003–04 NHL season by team {{NHL {{Hockey Night in Canada {{NHL on RDS Heritage Classic Edmonton Oilers games Ice hockey in Edmonton

2003 Heritage Classic The Heritage Classic was an outdoor ice hockey game played on November 22, 2003, in Edmonton, Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, between the Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens. It was the first National Hockey League (NHL) game to be play ...