NHL Heritage Classic

Heritage Classic

The Canadiens and Flames face off at the 2011 Heritage Classic in Calgary
National Hockey League
First played	November 22, 2003
Times Held	4
Teams Participated	6
Most Appearances	2: Montreal Canadiens Edmonton Oilers
Most Recent	2016 Heritage Classic
Most Recent Winner	Edmonton Oilers

The Heritage Classic is a series of outdoor games played in the National Hockey League (NHL). To date, four games have been played in the series, the match-ups have been exclusively between Canadian teams, and the event serves as a counterpart to the Winter Classic. The inaugural Heritage Classic, hosted by Edmonton at Commonwealth Stadium in 2003, was the first outdoor regular season game in NHL history and its success served as the precursor to outdoor hockey games played around the world. The second, hosted by Calgary in 2011, set sponsorship and revenue records. The third was hosted in Vancouver's BC Place stadium in 2014. The fourth game was hosted by Winnipeg at Investors Group Field in October 2016.

The first Heritage Classic was played in 2003 and hosted by the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers had suggested the idea of hosting an outdoor game as early as the mid 1980s, but the genesis of the 2003 event was the "Cold War" outdoor game played two years prior between Michigan State University and the University of Michigan. The first regular season outdoor game in NHL history, it was held at Commonwealth Stadium between the Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens.