The Calgary Flames still have plenty of time to plot their entrance — and their outfits — for the 2023 Heritage Classic at Commonwealth Stadium.
The Boston Bruins have set the bar high … about as high as the Green Monster, the iconic left-field wall at Fenway Park.
The Bruins were decked out in vintage Red Sox uniforms — complete with bats and gloves — as they arrived Monday at the historic ballpark for the NHL’s latest outdoor game.
“That was pretty cool,” beamed Flames defenceman Noah Hanifin, who was born and raised in Boston. “When I was really young, I went to the original Winter Classic at Fenway. It was a really cool experience. And actually when I was in high school, I think I was maybe a freshman, I played a game at Fenway too. Definitely a cool experience.”
It’s now been confirmed that the Flames will be taking it outside in the opening month of the 2023-24 campaign. They’ll battle Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers at Commonwealth Stadium, typically the scene of CFL turf wars between the Stampeders and the Elks.
“That will be unreal,” Hanifin said prior to Tuesday’s road date in Winnipeg. “Any chance you get to play in an outdoor game, it’s always something you’re going to remember.”
The Flames’ last open-air affair was the 2019 Heritage Classic, a meet-you-halfway matchup with the Jets at Mosaic Stadium in Regina.
Hanifin characterized that as “one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had playing hockey.”
Rasmus Andersson, now paired with Hanifin on a workhorse tandem, was also part of that Saskatchewan excursion. He remembers that he and Oliver Kylington — currently away from the team on personal leave — were mostly stuck on the bench during that overtime loss. When one of the pre-game storylines is the wind-chill factor, you’d prefer to get a sweat going.
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“Thank God they had heat warmers because we didn’t play a lot,” Andersson quipped. “But it’s obviously a fun experience and the build-up is cool. You don’t get too many chances to play outdoors and when you do, you’ve gotta take advantage of it. It’s exciting, especially against the Oilers too, so it’ll be a fun game. Honestly, I can’t wait.”
Jacob Markstrom doesn’t much like looking past the next contest on the calendar, let alone all the way into next season, but the stalwart netminder pointed out something special about these spectacles. To capitalize on daylight, they are typically matinees, a bonus if most of your friends and loved ones live several time zones away.
“Growing up, you always watched the outdoor games on TV in Sweden because they were on early instead of the middle of the night,” Markstrom said, offering a hint that he’d been tuned in when the Oilers hosted the Montreal Canadiens in the initial Heritage Classic in 2003. “I remember when Jose Theodore put the toque on. That’s a picture I had at home.
“It’s going to be fun, I’m sure, but that’s way too long for me to be thinking ahead.”
Fair enough, but some of them are already practising. Sort of.
Mikael Backlund, an alternate captain and the longest-serving skater on the Saddledome payroll, has been getting some extra ice time of late at the request of his daughter Tillie.
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“It’s always special bringing back those outdoor rink memories, that kind of feeling,” said Backlund, the lone holdover from when the Flames hosted the Canadiens at McMahon Stadium in Calgary in 2011. “Even right now, with my daughter, we’re out lots. She started during Christmas to learn to walk by herself on skates, so now she wants to go skating. She’s getting more and more into it, so that just makes it even more special playing outside.”
Monday’s faceoff at Fenway Park — the Bruins scratched out a 2-1 victory over Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins — was further proof that these are always memorable matchups.
But how do you top that BoSox tribute? Not to put pressure on the Flames, but Patrice Bergeron revealed that these what-to-wear discussions dated back to the initial announcement.
“We’ll see what we have in store,” Hanifin said with a wink. “That was pretty cool, though.”
Twitter.com/WesGilbertson
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