Left to right: Wayne Gretzky, Guy Lafleur and Mark Messier
November 22, 2003: For the 1st time, the National Hockey League plays a regular-season game outdoors. It is called the Heritage Classic.
It wasn't an original idea. On October 6, 2001, Michigan State University invited their arch-rivals, the University of Michigan, to play an outdoor game at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. They called it the Cold War, and it attracted the biggest crowd in hockey history to that point: 74,544 fans. It ended in a 3-3 tie.
The thought became, "If it could work in college hockey, it could work at the professional level." In 2003, the Edmonton Oilers invited another of the Canadian teams in the NHL, the Montreal Canadiens, for a special day at Commonwealth Stadium, home of the Canadian Football League's Edmonton Eskimos. (That team is now named the Edmonton Elks.)
The Heritage Classic was meant to celebrate 2 anniversaries for the Oilers: The 25th Anniversary of their entry into the NHL in 1979, and the 20th Anniversary of their 1st Stanley Cup win in 1984.
CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, made a day of it: First, there was a MegaStars game, an old-timers' game. The Oilers' old-timers were made up mostly of their Stanley Cup winners of 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988 and 1990, led by Wayne Gretzky. Mark Messier, still active at the time, received permission from the New York Rangers to play for the Oilers' team. The Canadiens' old-timers were made up of players from their Stanley Cup winners of 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1986 and 1993, led by Guy Lafleur.
Instead of 3 periods of 20 minutes each, it was 2 halves of 15 minutes each. The Oilers won, 2-0. Given the fact that the Canadiens' 1970s "Flying Frenchmen" were, by then, in their 40s and even 50s, it's not surprising that they did not defeat the younger Oiler old-timers.
Then came the regular-season game, part of CBC's weekly Saturday-night Hockey Night In Canada broadcast. A crowd of 57,167 came in, braving temperatures of 22 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit). Canadiens goaltender Jose Theodore wore a toque, a Winter knit hat, over his mask, having received permission from the League office to do so. It became the 2nd-most-watched hockey game in CBC-TV's history.
There was no scoring in the 1st period. But just after the start of the 2nd period, Richard Zednik scored for the Canadiens. Yanic Perreault made it 2-0. Eric Brewer got the Oilers on the board, to make it 2-1 after 2 periods. Perrault scored again early in the 3rd period. Jarret Stoll answered for Edmonton, but Zednik's 2nd goal of the game put it away. Steve Staios gave the Oilers hope with 5 minutes left, but the equalizer would not be found. The Canadiens won, 4-3.
The outdoor hockey game idea caught on. Staios and Doug Gilmour captained sides in a 2005 charity game at Ivor Wynne Stadium, home of the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats. (Gilmour's team won, 9-8.) In 2006, the University of Wisconsin beat Ohio State, 4-2, at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. In 2007, to celebrate the 100th game between them, Swiss hockey teams SC Bern and SCL Tigers played at the Stade de Suisse in Bern. (SC Bern won, 5-2.)
In 2007, the NHL announced the 1st annual Winter Classic, to be played every New Year's Day. It was played on January 1, 2008, at the Buffalo Bills' stadium, and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Buffalo Sabres in a shootout after a 1-1 draw. It's been played every year since, except for 2013 due to the NHL team owners' lockout, and 2021 due to COVID restrictions.
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November 22, 2003 was a Saturday. In addition to the Canadiens and the Oilers, most of the NHL was in action that day. The New Jersey Devils, the New York Rangers, the Atlanta Thrashers, the Carolina Hurricanes, the Phoenix Coytoes and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim were not scheduled. But these teams were:
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the First Union Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.
* The Florida Panthers beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at the MCI Center in Washington. (Now the Capital One Arena.) Stephen Weiss scored the winner at 1:43 of overtime.
* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Buffalo Sabres, 2-1 at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa. (Now the Benchmark International Arena.)
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Ottawa Senators, 2-1 at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh. (a.k.a. the Civic Arena.) Ryan Malone scored the winner at 2:40 of overtime.
* The Columbus Blue Jackets beat the New York Islanders, 2-1 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Minnesota Wild, 5-2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the Dallas Stars, 2-1 at the Savvis Center in St. Louis. (Now named the Enterprise Center.)
* The Calgary Flames beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 2-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Colorado Avalanche, 2-0 at the Pepsi Center in Denver. (Now named the Ball Arena.)
* The San Jose Sharks beat the Nashville Predators, 3-1 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. (Now named the SAP Center.)
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Vancouver Canucks, 5-3 at GM Place in Vancouver. (Now named Rogers Arena.)
There were 6 games played in the NBA that day:
* The New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 99-88 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Toronto Raptors, 81-80 at the Meadowlands, at the venue then named the Continental Airlines Arena.
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 92-83 at the Philips Arena in Atlanta. (Now named the State Farm Arena.)
* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 103-91 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Denver Nuggets 115-101 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Miami Heat, 100-98 at the AmericaWest Arena in Phoenix. (Now named the Mortgage Matchup Center.)
And it was a big week in college football:
* Number 1 Oklahoma beat Texas Tech, 56-25 at Jones Stadium in Lubbock.
* Number 2 USC beat UCLA, 47-22 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC won the Pacific-Ten Conference title.
* Number 3 Louisiana State beat Number 15 Mississippi, 17-14 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi. LSU went on to beat Georgia in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, and beat Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl. The Bowl Championship Series named LSU the National Champions.
* Number 5 Michigan beat Number 4 Ohio State, 35-21 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. Michigan clinched the Big Ten Conference title. USC beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl, and the Associated Press poll awarded them their National Championship.
* Number 6 Texas did not play. They went on to beat Texas A&M on Thanksgiving Day. But, having already lost to Oklahoma, they didn't go to the Big 12 Championship Game.
* Number 8 Washington were upset by Washington State, 27-19 at Husky Stadium in Seattle. Washington State beat Texas in the Holiday Bowl.
* Number 11 Florida State did not play that week. They won the Atlantic Coast Conference title.
* Number 13 Miami beat Rutgers, 34-10 at the Orange Bowl stadium. Miami won the Big East Conference title, and, having already beaten Florida State in the regular season, beat them again in the Orange Bowl.
* Number 19 Kansas State beat Missouri, 24-14 at KSU Stadium (now Snyder Family Stadium) in Manhattan, Kansas. The next week, they upset Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game.
* Notre Dame were unranked and idle.
Also, Arsenal beat Birmingham City, 3-0 at St. Andrew's Stadium in Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England.
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