Reflecting on the 2011 Heritage Classic

Saturday is the 2019 Heritage Classic between the Calgary Flames and the Winnipeg Jets at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. It marks just the second time the Flames have participated in an NHL outdoor game, with the first being back on Feb. 20, 2011. Calgary won that game 4-0 over the Montreal Canadiens at McMahon Stadium to put the finishing touches on what was a really enjoyable weekend.

“It sort of felt like the one here was a week lead-up, if I remember correctly,” Mark Giordano told me earlier this week when reflecting on 2011. Along with Mikael Backlund, Giordano is one of two current Flames players who played at McMahon Stadium. He was right, too; there was a lot of pomp and circumstance ahead of the game. Because it between two Canadian teams, the days leading up to the 2011 event were jam packed.

At the time, outdoor games were still a very new concept for the league. In fact, the game between the Flames and Habs was just the second NHL regular season outdoor game played in Canada (the first was the one that started it all: November 2003 in Edmonton). It was also the first time the league had attempted more than one outdoor game in a single calendar year, as it came two years after the Capitals and Penguins played at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

Media attention was huge. There was a huge spotlight on the event in Calgary, of course, but Montreal’s massive throng of travelling media was larger than usual. Finally, a decent number of national media from both sides of the border were in attendance. All in all, it felt like a huge playoff game as opposed to a regular season meeting in February.

The Flames did a great job of planning around the game itself, too. The “Face-off in the Foothills” made the 2011 Heritage Classic feel like a huge deal all weekend. The team planned three other games around the main event, starting with an AHL match between the Abbotsford Heat (Flames) and Oklahoma City Barons (Oilers), which featured prospects for both squads. I also believe it was the first time I met Ryan Pike.

The following day, more than 10,000 people showed up for a Montreal-Calgary alumni game. For Flames fans, it was pretty incredible seeing 1989 alumni like Lanny McDonald, Joe Nieuwendyk, Theo Fleury, and Mike Vernon on the same ice surface together. The fact the Canadiens (featuring players like Martin Gelinas, Mike Keane, and Brian Skrudland) won the game 5-3 was irrelevant in the end.

Finally, we saw the Calgary Hitmen defeat the Regina Pats on Monday afternoon to wrap up what was a great weekend. Including the Flames and Habs, we saw three separate games played at McMahon and one more at the Saddledome.

The 2010-11 edition of the Flames was a frustrating one, but they provided a really entertaining two month of hockey that had people believing. If you remember, Calgary had shockingly missed the playoffs one year prior to snap a run of five straight years of postseason hockey. To start the following season, the Flames were dreadful; they entered a December 23rd game in Dallas with a 14-18-3 record, which was good for 25th overall.

Following a comeback 3-2 shootout win over the Stars before Christmas, though, Calgary went on a tear. The Flames rattled off wins in 16 of their next 25 games (16-4-5) and moved from second-last in the West up to the sixth seed in the conference. Unfortunately, a 4-0 win over the Canadiens in the Heritage Classic was the peak of that run; they went 10-7-4 in their final 21 games, which wasn’t enough to get them a playoff spot.

“Kipper was in net, you know Iggy was here, Reggie was here, I remember Bourque,” Giordano said. “It’s funny, I wouldn’t have expected there to be no one except for me and Backlund to be playing in this one and that one. It goes by quick. You remember those guys, you remember playing with those guys and having that experience for sure.”

“The ice was really bad in that one. I remember the weather was really cold and I think the ice was bad because of the weather. Being so cold they were worried, actually, about it cracking and I remember there were a lot of issues.”

Because the weekend leading into the Sunday was so cold, the ice surface was a mess. The temperature actually went up for the game itself, but not enough for the ice to bounce back all the way. Crews battled chunking all game long, and it was hard for either side to get much done. The team scoring first definitely had a huge advantage.

“I think the ice got better as we went along,” reflected Flames forward Alex Tanguay to CBC.ca following the game. “But at the start of the game the ice wasn’t great. It was important for us to take the lead and play with an advantage.”

“I think it was more challenging for forwards, to be honest, especially skilled guys,” agreed Giordano. “As a defenceman you just really simplify and make the easy plays. When you don’t have anything you can get it out off the glass or flip it out.

“I think the forwards were upset in that one because it was tough to make plays when it’s jumping around like that. We ended up on the right side of it, so we were happy and I’m sure Montreal wasn’t after that game.”

Giordano wasn’t wrong. The Habs were livid about the ice surface, because they felt shoddy conditions favoured a team like Calgary far more. I’ve never understood the argument, myself; both teams had to play on the same surface, so it was all about who adjusted better. Many on the Montreal side clearly felt differently.

“I’ve never been more frustrated in my life playing hockey,” said Canadiens’ defenceman James Wisniewski to CBC. “We’re a skilled team that makes plays and it was tough to do that.”

In the end, the Flames got a pair of goals from Rene Bourque to go along with singles from Anton Babchuk and Alex Tanguay to win 4-0. More notably, Miikka Kiprusoff made 39 saves to post the first ever shutout in an outdoor game. Despite some frigid moments, the vast majority of the 41,022 fans in attendance went home happy.

Calgary will get one practice on the ice surface at Mosaic on Friday night prior to Saturday’s game. That’s when players will have the chance to get acquainted with new visual markers and cues. From experience, Giordano knows playing in the middle of a football field is much different than the usual surroundings.

“It’s going to be a huge adjustment. Any, like, pucks in the glass or high flips, it’s different. For some reason, to me it always feels like the rink is a little bit smaller the you don’t have the crowd right behind the glass. For sure, it’s like that in…Brooklyn, where they don’t have seats right behind the glass on the one side. It does create a different effect for sure.”

The good news is it doesn’t look like cold weather is going to be a major factor. Instead, adjusting to wind will likely be the biggest nature-related challenge for both teams.

For Calgary, this game is somewhat shoehorned into an extremely busy first month of the season. It comes two days after a home game with the Panthers and is the first of a five-game road trip that also takes them through Carolina, Nashville, Columbus, and Washington. Even still, Giordano knows it’s important to soak it all in; regardless of the schedule, an opportunity like Saturday doesn’t come around very often.

“I appreciate the moments off the ice. The time you spend with friends, the time you spend with family, the dinners before the game, all that sort of stuff goes into it. I’m looking forward to seeing the venue. That’s the coolest part, is when you first walk in for that first practice and you get to see everything. That’s the coolest part.”