A Night To Remember: Jose Theodore Guides Montreal in the NHL's First Outdoor Regular Season Game

This week marks the 5-year anniversary of the Heritage Classic, the's first-ever experiment with outdoor, regular season hockey. The game was contested on November 22, 2003, at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, pitting Montreal and Jose Theodore versus the Edmonton Oilers. It's difficult to overstate the appeal and novelty the game generated; the Oilers characterized fan interest as "easily the hottest ticket in Edmonton sports history." That's saying something, as there have been a few notable hockey games played in Edmonton over the years. As far as heat goes, there was precious little of it that Arctic November night. Factoring in wind chill, temperatures actually sank below -20 F. Water in the pipes of Zambonis actually froze. And necessarily, the 57,167 Edmontonians in attendance loved every minute of it. CBC broadcasted the game, which established a record for the most viewers for a single hockey game in the outlet's history (about 10 percent of Canada watched the game live on television). It was also CBC's first high definition hockey broadcast. Montreal defeated Edmonton 4-3. We got a chance last week to reminisce with the Heritage Classic's winning netminder, Jose Theodore, after practice at Kettler Capitals. One of the iconic images associated with that November night was Theodore donning a touque over his mask to help ward off the extraordinary cold. We asked him if he'd be interested in playing in another outdoor game, this time potentially involving Washington and Pittsburgh, and we asked him to sign a team touque to award to a patron at tonight's screening of 'Pond Hockey,' which he was glad to do.If you're wondering what inaugurated the's interest in perpetuating an annual outdoor game, you have to go back to that frosty night in Alberta 5 years ago. Theodore shared vivid detail with us about that extraordinary night. Source