FEATURE: McDavid excited to make new memories at Heritage Classic

EDMONTON, AB – It’s hard to imagine 56,000-plus fans being packed into Commonwealth Stadium at -19 degrees Celsius, or that 20 years later, the Heritage Classic would return this coming October to the place where it all started.

With the backdrop firmly in focus during Wednesday’s media availability with Connor McDavid and NHL EVP & Chief Content Officer Steve Mayer, it put into picture-perfect perspective the enormity of the 2003 Heritage Classic in both scale and influence on what outdoor NHL hockey has become, while providing a small glimpse at just how amazing the 20th-anniversary rendition projects to be with the added allure of being the first Battle of Alberta outdoors and first regular-season meeting between the provincial rivals in 306 days.

Hopefully, this time, the weather will be a bit better.

“Picturing this place full of Edmonton and Calgary fans going crazy, that's what us hockey guys get excited about,” McDavid said. “I’ve got lots of family coming in. I'm looking forward to the family skate before. Those are memories that I'll have for a lifetime, and I'm just excited for the whole weekend. It'll be fun.

“To be here at Commonwealth in Edmonton, the 20th anniversary of the original outdoor game, I’m super excited to be a part of it. Obviously, the Edmonton-Calgary rivalry is special and to play on this field and on this rink in this big venue, it’s going to be very fun.

“Thankfully, playing in October, it'll be a little bit warmer, I hope. You never know with Edmonton weather.”

The Oilers captain was just about seven years old when the inaugural Heritage Classic was waged between the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens on Nov. 22, 2003, and doesn’t remember much about the game beyond weather and the toque that goaltender Jose Theodore wore atop his mask in the eventual 4-3 Habs victory.

McDavid holds fond memories of the 2016 Heritage Classic in Winnipeg, where he recorded an assist and a late penalty in his first-ever outdoor NHL game that the Oilers took handily by a 3-0 score after Cam Talbot earned the 31-save shutout donning the infamous toque. This season, it’ll be Jack Campbell and Stuart Skinner who’ll have to continue that trend.

During that late tripping infraction, with the Oilers comfortably defending their lead over the Jets, McDavid offered himself a moment to soak in the experience and the atmosphere of playing an NHL game on an outdoor rink in front of 33,000-plus fans at Investors Group Field.

“The game was over a little bit. I ended up taking a penalty with three or four minutes left and I remember sitting in the penalty box,” he said. “We were up by a couple, so it didn't really matter. But I remember looking around just being like, ‘This is sweet.' It was sick. I really enjoyed it. The fans get into it. It just feels like you're a kid again playing outside. I know that's cliche, but it's true, and playing hockey outdoors is as Canadian as it gets.”

“To do it here in Edmonton against the Flames will be even better.”

But still, the surreal experience of suiting up for an outdoor NHL game in front of a crowd that’s double, or even triple, that of a normal regular-season attendance around the League still compares to some of his earliest childhood memories on the backyard rink.

“My dad put together an outdoor rink for us in the backyard,” McDavid said. “As we got a little bit older, it became a deck and a hot tub or an outdoor rink, and my dad opted for the deck and the hot tub, so he put an end to that.

“But we still had a few good winters with the outdoor rink and have great memories of that. My brother and I would walk after school to the pond close by and shovel it off and play with buddies and stuff like that, so lots of great memories on the outdoor rinks.”

One of the most under-appreciated aspects of Heritage Classic weekend, in McDavid’s opinion, is everything that happens off the ice.

McDavid had the opportunity with his teammates in 2016 to bring his extended family to the event and rub shoulders with some esteemed alumni of both the Oilers and Jets at a dinner the night before the Heritage Classic -- memories that the captain will remember for the rest of his life.

“It's special just to see them interact, to interact with them a little bit, see what it's like and pick their brains about certain things and just see them interact with each other and reminisce on those good times,” he said.

Come this October, McDavid is looking forward to creating new memories with his family and teammates during Heritage Classic weekend that’s evolved to include more of each player’s extended family.

Beyond those off-ice experiences, an emotionally-charged Battle of Alberta in the Heritage Classice that’ll mark the first regular-season meeting between the Oilers and Flames in 306 days is one McDavid hopes will be a great launching-off point for the grind of the regular season over the next seven months.

“I think it's a good time for our group to kind of come together. Like you said, it's early in the year. It's a big game. It always is,” McDavid said. “Every time Edmonton plays Calgary, a lot of family will be in town. I think the NHL does a good job of kind of scheduling a little bit of a break leading up and then a break afterwards to be able to get the families involved, which is always a nice thing.

“I think it's a game that can really bring our team together.”