The 2011 Heritage Classic was a regular season outdoor National Hockey League (NHL) game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Calgary Flames.

It ended on Family Day Monday when the Regina Pats defeated the Calgary Hitmen in a Western Hockey League (WHL) game at McMahon that set a junior world attendance record of 20,888.

[5] They unsuccessfully sought to host a second outdoor game as part of a January 1 doubleheader with the 2010 NHL Winter Classic in Boston.

They thought about building temporary stadiums west of the city limits or in Lake Louise and hosting the game at the foot of the Canadian Rockies.

King responded to the concerns by noting that the league had purchased the game from the Flames, and the team was given a limited allotment of seats for its ticket holders.

He also noted that it was possible that the event would lose money, even at ticket prices ranging between $49 and $249, but that the team brought the Heritage Classic to Calgary because the fans wanted the game to return to Canada.

[13] Cheaper, unlicensed copies were widely available online and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police worked to stem the sale of counterfeit merchandise that was misrepresented as being authentic.

[17] University of Alberta sports economist Brad Humphreys questioned the league's ambitions, arguing that a game without an American team would not appeal.

[27] Both teams struggled to deal with bouncing pucks,[28] while arena staff were called out to fix patches of the ice on numerous occasions.

[29] Flames' defenceman Steve Staios stated that Calgary's strategy revolved around "keeping it simple and trying to play the game in straight lines".

[32] Calgary was given an early two-man advantage after P. K. Subban and Hal Gill both took tripping penalties in the seventh minute of play.

[32] The Flames capitalized on the power play, as Tanguay slid a pass in front of the Montreal net that was deflected in by Bourque to give Calgary a 1–0 advantage.

[31] Kiprusoff held Montreal off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game to record his fourth shutout of the season, and the first in the NHL's outdoor history.

[37] Calgary's unpredictable weather patterns impacted the game, as long term forecasts that called for relatively warm temperatures failed to materialize.

Flames defenceman Cory Sarich noted that while he had difficulty handling the puck, he was not concerned about the safety of the ice surface.

[42] Teammate Steve Staios was a member of the Oilers at the first Heritage Classic, when the defenceman led both teams with three points (one goal, two assists).

[43] For the Canadiens, Michael Cammalleri was a teammate of Moss at the Cold war game,[42] while defenceman James Wisniewski was a member of the Chicago Blackhawks when they hosted the 2009 NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field.

The game, featuring the top prospects for both NHL organizations, drew 8,407 fans to what ended in a 3–1 Barons victory.

The game featured 14 members of the Flames' 1989 Stanley Cup championship team, including Lanny McDonald, Al MacInnis, Joel Otto, Theoren Fleury and Joe Nieuwendyk.

[48] For Nieuwendyk, at the time the General Manager of the Dallas Stars, the chance to participate in the game was important enough that he chose to overlook the chronic pain in his back when he is on skates.

[53] The weekend ended with a Western Hockey League (WHL) game on February 21 outdoors at McMahon Stadium.

The game featured the defending champion Hitmen against the Regina Pats, Canada's oldest major-junior hockey team.

[54] The WHL game offered a parallel to the NHL match-up, as the Hitmen are owned by the Flames while the Pats were once an affiliate of the Canadiens.

It was a considerably more physical game than the NHL contest, and was won by the Pats, 3–2, on a last-minute goal by Chandler Stephenson.