NHL Heritage Classic Goes Cold: Outdoor Games Becoming a Gimmick

The early reports are in: The Heritage Classic was a huge success and the NHL is on a roll.

Really? As Lee Corso said, not so fast my friend.

If you were watching the same thing I was, then you might not agree about the so-called success of this farce of a game. The novelty is definitely wearing thin and if the NHL doesn't put on the brakes soon, this wonderful addition to our league is going to go the way of the Dodo.

Let's speak plainly here, shall we? Gary Bettman has gone on the record to state that the Heritage Classic was another outdoor home run out of the park.

Why, you say? Because the sponsorship for this game topped the Winter Classic.

Ah yes, once again, the corporations rule the day. So due to the financial windfall, the event is crowned as the best thing since Wayne Gretzky and all is good in the world of the NHL.

The blunt truth of it is the game was dreadful and boring. The lengthy stoppages during the game were fine in Buffalo when the crowd morphed into an outdoor Bon Jovi concert, but there was no Bad Medicine being passed around in Calgary tonight.

You even heard boos as the crew frantically tried to spray their magic potion onto the ice.

Temperatures were bone-chilling cold as fans sat there wondering if they would finish the game before midnight. 

To make matters worse, this game had a lot of playoff importance. Yes, every game during the season has playoff importance, whether it is on February 20 or October 10, but at this point in the year, teams know where they stand and what they need to do to secure a ticket to the big dance. 

The fact that they were playing on an ice surface that resembled the bounce of a tennis court was hard to watch. Simple passes to the point bounced over their sticks and linesmen tripped over imaginary obstacles.

Sure, a game like this is great for the locals and people in Canada can feel like they aren't getting neglected because, let's face it, the Winter Classic isn't about to be above the 49th parallel in our lifetimes.  

However, the game didn't have that special buzz or feeling that was evoked in each of the previous Winter Classics. Instead, it seemed like the after-party that nobody wanted to go to because the one before it was so much better.

Sorry CFL fans, but McMahon Stadium doesn't have the same aura as a Heinz Field or Fenway Park, and this is half the attraction of these events.

We want to see what an ice hockey would look like in the middle of Lambeau Field or New Meadowlands Stadium.  

When the coolest thing about the game was Carey Price's mask, you know you have a problem. The Zamboni was forbidden from the ice because the surface was already falling apart and it was too cold to hit anybody.

Instead, the game resembled a backyard shinny game in the alleyway.

The fact is that if the NHL is going to make this an annual event, or even worse add more games per year, the Winter Classic on New Year's Day will become an afterthought.

Compounding the problem is having multiple outdoor games per year dramatically increases the chances of bad weather ruining the event entirely. What is currently a dynamic niche in the market will cross over into the world of gimmicks and tricks.

We hear over and over that Gary Bettman and his band of brothers do not want to dilute the outdoor experience, but money talks and you know what walks. You can count on seeing more of these every season regardless of whether or not anyone watches it. 

Better to cash in now and pay later, right?

The only reason that real hockey fans put up with these games to begin with is because of the novelty and spectacle of it. It draws casual sports fans in and provides people with positive buzz around the water cooler. 

The bottom line is the product on the ice is horrifically bad in these games and in order to keep these games special, we need to keep it to one per season on January 1.

Anything more than that will undermine the Winter Classic and within a few years no one will care about any of these games. 

If the NHL knew what was good for them they would keep it simple: Build up the Winter Classic by following each team on HBO's 24/7 and choose the best facility possible.