OFB reader Chris Meza helpfully reminded me this morning of cooler times, and specifically of November 22, 2003 — date of the Heritage Classic outdoor hockey game between Montreal and Edmonton. Chris is a good person to talk to about that event, seeing as he traveled from Washington all the way to Alberta that weekend to take in the game in the upper deck of Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium. I vividly remember him ringing me on his cell phone from those frozen environs. I asked Chris to share with me his recollections of that remarkable Saturday night.
The league of course selected the late November date seeking optimally chilly and dry conditions for the game. It got chilly all right. That Saturday afternoon, temps were in the single digits. Before the evening was done, the Habs and Oilers were skating in air that reached -28 Fahrenheit.
“The night before, it snowed in Edmonton,” Chris recalled. “It snowed enough and it was cold enough that one of the Zambonis needed for the game froze up.”
There were two games for the early winter hearty to take in that day, an Old Timers one featuring ’70s and ’80s Oilers and Canadians greats and then a standing’s counting one between the contemporary teams afterward. Players for both games were able to skate out onto the makeshift ice surface from their locker rooms.
I asked Chris how he outfitted himself for his perch a hundred feet high in the frosty Alberta night. “I was in winter socks, longjohns, Levis, two shirts, a heavy duty ski coat, gloves, a scarf, and a wool cap,” he said. “The thing I remember most about the fashion that night were the locals, men and women, and even their children, armored in winter coveralls that you commonly see construction workers in when they’re working outdoors in extreme winter.”
He had another vivid recollection from his frozen stadium experience. “I didn’t purchase refreshments from the concessions, because trips to restrooms required . . . well, in all those layers all of us were in, it just took too long,” he laughed.
It wasn’t just spectators lavishly layered — Montreal netminder Jose Theodore famously added a touque to the top of his goalie mask to try and ward off the tundra chill, and many of the skaters appeared to pull turtlenecks up to their ears.
The league set up two large viewing screens at both ends of Commonwealth for spectators. Chris said that the screens were important for those like him seated up high to follow the play. “So much of the stadium seemed to follow the play on those screens,” Chris said. “Their enthusiasm, with every rush, seemed identical to the passion you associate with a Canadian crowd in a typical arena.”
I asked Chris to identify a lasting image of that November’s frozen feast. “Even in the upper deck where I was, you could see the joy on the faces of the Old-Timer All Stars, their delight in taking shovels and pushing snow off of the playing surface. It just reminded you of hockey’s roots and that the game’s biggest names seemed to relish a return to them.”
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fun to read some more first-hand comments about the game… nice timing for the post with rumors out of Buffalo today…
http://www.wgr550.com/sabres/fullstory.php?id=2504
One of my all-time favorite hockey memories, hands down. I was in Montreal and was just beginning to fall head over heels for the Habs. I gathered with a bunch of friends and fellow hockey fans at a downtown bar to watch the whole thing - I remember the joy in the faces of the old guys and naturally I remember the toque vividly (this was back when I actually liked Jose…you know, when he used to be a good goalie.)
I’m eternally jealous of anyone who got to be there in person - thanks for sharing Chris’ memories with us.
As a new hockey fan, I would love to go to an event like this. Isn’t this how hockey was originally played? Thanks for sharing.
The Heritage Classic…what a memory!! I decided to go with my hockey-loving girlfriend on the Thursday before. We paid too much for tickets on eBay and the flight from Boston wasn’t cheap either. The first highlight was the Edmonton native (who we got the tickets from) who found a great hotel for us on such short notice.
We got to Edmonton after a long journey through Minneapolis and were greated by the cold (-28C) Friday night. We went out and found hockey fans and hockey excitement everywhere. We ran into Don Cherry and several of the Old Timers slated to play the next afternoon.
We woke early on Saturday and went to see the NHL “silverware” at the Edmonton Town Hall. What a bunch of great memories we got to share including a photo with the Stanley Cup!
We then took at train ride, in all our layers of ski clothes, to Commonwealth Stadium. As I enter the arena, I nearly broke into tears. As a kid growing up in the farmlands of New York (near Buffalo), all I did was play hockey…every day on any surface that was frozen…creeks, cornfields and backyards. The sight of a pond hockey rink and the NHL rink in Commonwealth Stadium took me back to my childhood. A vivid memmory of outdoor hockey is playing on a creek with the guys and listening to the 1972 Summit Series.
We took our snowy seats and cheered and jeered…and enjoyed…the greatest game on earth as it should be.
To top it off, we shared a planeride back to Boston on Sunday with Chris (Nuckles) Niland who played in the Old Timers game.
We are now very much looking forward to the AMP/NHL Winter Classic in my home town of Bufalo. Again, we paid too much for the tickets, but this is hockey…nothing is more important.
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[...] The script for this sleep distress was authored early Tuesday. In the morning a chum transported me, with his reminiscence of a roadtrip past to a faraway Frozenville. By the close of business yesterday OFB colleague Gustafsson was instant messaging me from Kettler Capitals, filling me in on all of the logistics for camp coverage by new and old media. [...]
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