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NHL announces 2011 Heritage Classic in Calgary; Flames uniforms cause a stir

2011 Heritage Classic.jpg

While we’ve got the Winter Classic to get excited about here in the United States, Canada is getting their own outdoor game once again this year with the resuming of the Heritage Classic. Back in 2003, Edmonton and Montreal played an outdoor game in November at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. This time around, Montreal will head to the other big city in Alberta and take on the Calgary Flames on Sunday, February 20th at McMahon Stadium in Calgary.

Today, the NHL and Gary Bettman held their press conference to announce the game in earnest and unveil

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If your first thought after viewing that is to ask if you’ve run out of ketchup and mustard, you can’t be faulted. If your other thought is how ironically amusing it’ll be to see Flames legend Lanny McDonald wearing one of these then you’re right there with me. As for why the Flames are wearing a jersey they’ve never worn before in the team’s history, fear not, there’s a good explanation as to what, exactly, this jersey is.

The Calgary Flames are proud to announce that they will wear a fusion design jersey honouring the history of professional hockey in Calgary (inspired by the Calgary Tigers’ uniform) for the Heritage Classic at McMahon Stadium on February 20, 2011 versus the Montreal Canadiens.

The Tigers helped form the Western Canada Hockey League in 1921 to become the first major professional team in Calgary. In 1924, after winning the Western Canadian Championships, the Tigers became the first Calgary-based club to compete for the Stanley Cup, losing the best of three Finals in a sweep to the Montreal Canadiens led by Georges Vezina and Howie Morenz.

The Flames worked with the design team at Reebok to create the vintage look. The jersey features the same jersey striping pattern with a beige Flames C logo in a vintage felt application.

All right so at least that’s a noble nod to honor the past professional hockey efforts in Calgary. Perhaps recognizing the team’s original roots in Atlanta might’ve been a nice touch too, but let’s not get too crazy. As it is, give credit to Puck Daddy’s Sean Leahy
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I’m not exactly a fashion maven myself here and I’m perhaps the least trendy person alive, but this will give me nightmares for a while and I’m going to blame the cream-colored breezers for it. If nothing else, those will help distract from the McDonald Land nightmare that are those jerseys. It’s fitting, however, that after the Canadiens have exposed fans and other teams alike to a host of sometimes horrifying jerseys to celebrate their 100th anniversary that they’ll get a first-hand look at what could be one of the more infamous jersey faux-pas of recent memory.

One added thing they’re doing with the game in Calgary is hosting a WHL game the day after the Heritage Classic between the local Calgary Hitmen and the oldest team in the WHL, the Regina Pats. Doing things like this, like they did in Boston last year having a college hockey doubleheader at Fenway Park, helps the league do nice things for the smaller yet still notable local hockey operations in town. Spreading the wealth to the smaller guys does a lot of good things for local public relations and every little bit helps the league out.