Outdoor Hockey: Heritage Classic, NHL Winter Classic, the “Cold War”, and the “Big Chill at the Big House”

The evolution of modern outdoor hockey:   HockeyHistory.org had the great opportunity to experience  large outdoor venue hockey at the 2011 Heritage Classic in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This post is a brief history of the evolution of modern outdoor hockey.

Cold War: On Saturday, October 6, 2001 a world record crowd of 74,554 fans attended an outdoor hockey game known as the Cold War between Michigan State University and the University of Michigan. The teams played at Spartan Stadium to an overflow crowd. 

Heritage Classic: The huge success of the Cold War led the NHL to introduce the Heritage Classic which is an outdoor NHL hockey game played as part of the NHL regular season.  The first Heritage Classic dubbed, A November to Remember was held in Edmonton Alberta in 2003.  The game drew 57,167 fans to Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.  It was the first outdoor regular season game in the NHL. 

Flames Heritage Jerseys
Photo: HockeyHistory.org

The second Heritage Classic was played at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta. 41,022 fans watched the Calgary Flames play the Montreal Canadiens in heritage jerseys.  Wind chill pushed the temperatures to -21 C.

Winter Classic:  The success of the first Heritage Classic led the NHL to introduce the NHL Winter Classic which is a outdoor regular season game played annually on New Years Eve. The first Winter Classic was held January 1, 2008. The game had an NHL record crowd of 77,217 fans watch the Sabres and Penguins at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, New York. This success led to the 2009 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois where the Black Hawks played the Red Wings.  This game had the highest TV ratings ever for a hockey game. In 2010 the third Winter Classic was held at Fenway Park in Boston Massachusetts between the Bruins and Flyers.  Boston won in overtime – 2-1. The 2011 Winter Classic was between the Penguins and Capitals at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The 2012 Winter Classic will be between the Flyers and Rangers at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on Jan. 2, 2012.

The Big Chill at the Big House:  This December 11, 2010 game was a rematch of the Cold War game from 2001.  This outdoor hockey game was held at Michigan Stadium also known as the Big House.  The Big Chill between the University of Michigan and Michigan State University set a world hockey attendance record of 113,411 fans.

Photo:  IIHF.COM
77,00 0 Watch in 2010

The Big Chills’ record attendance surpassed the previous record set at the 2010 IIHF World Championships.  The opening game on May 7 drew 77,803 to watch Germany play the USA.  It was at Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen.

Note: The first outdoor NHL game was an unofficial pre-season game.  On September 27, 1991 the Kings played the Rangers at a parking lot by Ceasers’ Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Steve Tambellini, his Father Addie and his Son Jeff: Three Tambellini Generations Representing Canada in International Hockey

1961 Celebration*

Adolf (Addie) Tambellini, Steve’s father, played for the 1961 world champion Trail Smoke Eaters from Trail B.C. This was the last Canadian amateur team to win the world championships. Addie was Western International Hockey League Rookie of the Year in 1957.  The Trail BC Historical Society has a great site houring the history of the great Trail Smoke Eaters Hockey Teams.  To view the site go to:  Trail Smoke Eaters History

Steve Tambellini

Steve Tambellini is the General Manager of the Edmonton Oilers.  His NHL career began as the 1978 first round draft pick of the New York Islanders where he won a Stanley Cup. He played in the NHL until his last season with the Canucks in 1987/88. Steve played for Canada in international play three times; the 1978 Team Canada in the World Junior Hockey Championships (Bronze); World hockey Championships and the 1988 Winter Olympics (11 goals). His last years as a player were in Swiss Hockey League and the Austrian Hockey League. After his playing career he was the Director of Player Personnel for the Gold Medal winning Canadian men’s team at the 2002 Winter Olympics, the 2003 World Junior Hockey Team and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.

Crosby and Jeff (right)
Photo:  edmontonjournal.com

Steve’s son Jeff Tambellini was taken 27^th overall in the 2003 NHL entry draft in 2003. Jeff played for the Canadian junior national team in 2004 World junior Championships. Jeff is currently playing for the ZSC Lions in Switzerland.  His dad Steve had played there in the past.


Reference

*Ron Verzuh's Blog;  Go Smokies Go - A Hockey Legend  March 16, 2011