NHL Heritage Classic: A November to Remember

The idea was to showcase the game as it was learned by generations of players at all levels, outdoors in the freezing cold with the love of the game (and a toque with your favorite team's crest on it if you were lucky) to keep you warm. Even the NHL (surely the most mismanaged sports league in North America) couldn't screw this up.

This package has something for everyone...there is of course the game itself, shown in its entirety as broadcast by CBC, including the play-by-play. I was disappointed that Don Cherry's "Coach's Corner" wasn't part of it (I've lived in Atlanta, GA for my entire life; his reputation is legend here), and in truth there did seem to be some "network difficulties" evident in the broadcast, but considering the elements that's surely understandable...but it was unnerving to hear dead air in the lead-up to Edmonton's final goal scored.

Most fans my age (late 30's) and older will REALLY appreciate the alumni game (we call them "old timers' games" here, but I suppose that's a bit politically incorrect these days) between the Oilers stars of the '80's (including Brent Gretzky's big brother and Mark Messier) and the Canadiens of the '70's and '80's (including Guy Lafluer and Larry Robinson...where was Dryden?). Lafluer, bless him, now has hair every bit as bad as Bobby Hull's back in the WHA days. Can't they just follow Messier's lead and roll with it? Most of the special features found on Disc One have to do with the alumni match, and they are very entertaining. The oldsters are obviously enjoying themselves (I can't remember when I've ever seem Marty McSorley smiling so much), and the crowd turnout (over 50,000 people in an arena where the playing surface was smack-dab in the middle of a football field...it reminded me of the Beatles concert with their stage at 2nd base in Shea Stadium; no one who showed up there was going to have a "front row" seat, but the event itself was the draw and showing up made you a part of something bigger than a mere exhibition of special talent) was surely an indicator that events like this could surely be held again; unbelievably Pittsburgh's Civic Arena has had a retractable roof since its construction in the 1960's but it's never occurred to anyone to play an NHL game there outdoors, even with the powerful teams they had in the early '90's.

Sadly, the NHL seems destined to shoot itself in the foot with a work stoppage this year that has a good chance of making the lockout that dimmed what should have been the league's finest hour (media capital New York's Rangers winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in 54 years) look like a mid-period intermission by comparison. The game of hockey in its purest form is one ofthe most beautiful things to see and appreciate. The NHL game between the Oilers and the Canadiens played the evening of 22 November 2003 may not be an absolute "classic" in the sense of historical importance or the magnamity of the players who took part (the alumni game was the Hall Of Fame on skates, after all), but for someone who appreciates the game in spite of the league that governs it, this DVD set is an invaluable memento that will surely find steady rotation during the impending labor strife and well beyond; a moment frozen (literally) in time for all to see and appreciate.