'A big spectacle': Jets players pumped over return of Heritage Classic

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Published Dec 05, 2025 • 3 minute read

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Selanne Winnipeg Jets forward Teemu Selanne whips out his phone as he leaves the ice after the second period of the Heritage Classic alumni game against the Edmonton Oilers in Winnipeg on Sat., Oct. 22, 2016. Selanne is joining the Jets Hall of Fame. Kevin King/Winnipeg Sun/Postmedia Network Photo by Kevin King /Winnipeg SunArticle content

They were NHL rookies just trying to make a team and fulfill a childhood dream.

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Five games into that 2016-17 season, Winnipeg Jets Kyle Connor and Josh Morrissey were skating on an outdoor rink in front of 33,000 fans at Winnipeg’s football stadium, part of the first Heritage Classic to hit the Manitoba capital.

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Now Jets stalwarts, they’ll get another chance 10 years later, as the outdoor game is coming back to Winnipeg next October.

“Love it,” Connor said on Thursday. “Especially to be in the position I am now, have an impact on the game. The role I’m playing on this team now, it would be awesome. And I have a family now, too, and to create those memories and pictures and stuff like that – it’s a whole event. A big spectacle.”

Next fall’s game, pitting the Jets against Montreal, hasn’t been formally announced, yet, but it was made public by an accidental and premature posting on the Jets web site on Wednesday.

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It was quickly taken down, with an official announcement expected this weekend.

It’ll mark the first Heritage Classic in three years and the third one the Jets have been part of, as they faced off against Calgary in the 2019 game in Regina.

But there’s nothing like your first one.

“I hadn’t played 10 games in the NHL, yet,” Morrissey recalled. “One, I’m really excited to be in the National Hockey League. And two, to get to play in an outdoor game that early in my career. Talking to other guys that were 500, 600, 700 games in and that was their first outdoor game, I felt pretty lucky.”

“A really cool experience,” Connor added. “You grow up watching those Winter Classics and you think you’re lucky enough to get one of those in your time.”

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Connor was particularly lucky, as he played just 20 games that season before being sent down to the American League for a little more seasoning. He was just 19, after all.

Morrissey, then 21, suited up for all 82 games that year.

What the outdoor game does is make everybody feel a little younger.

“Hockey, we all played it, growing up, outdoors,” Connor said. “That’s what you loved about the game. It brings you back to being a kid and that feel. A lot of those memories everybody shares. Back to the roots, the foundation of hockey.”

Now 28, Connor has come a long way from that first game of professional outdoor shinny.

Where he got just 10 minutes of ice time that day, with linemates he can’t remember, he’s now part of one of the NHL’s hottest lines, led by centre Mark Scheifele.

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Scheifele was already a three-year vet for that 2016 game, on the cusp of becoming a point-per-game player.

Connor could only look up to him then, not even imagining he’d be making plays with him years later.

“You’re so determined to make the roster,” Connor said. “And then it’s that realization… ‘Hey, I can make a difference here.’ And then you elevate your game. It’s building blocks. So maybe at that time if you’d have asked me that, ‘Maybe some day, hopefully.’

“I’ve been pretty lucky the last few years to play with him.”

That first Heritage Classic in Winnipeg drew a sellout crowd of 33,240. Capacity at the stadium is now 32,343.

“I’m definitely excited,” Morrissey said. “And for the people of Winnipeg. We have the best fans. It’s just a special weekend and it brings a lot of energy to the city.”

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Ditto for Connor, who, like Morrissey, has only played in one city his entire career.

“It’s awesome for the city, and the players couldn’t be more excited,” he said. “We love these events.”

Jets captain Adam Lowry and goalie Connor Hellebuyck also suited up in that 2016 game, Lowry as a third-year vet, Hellebuyck in his second.

The Jets will want to change the result, as they lost 3-0 to Edmonton.

One thing organizers will want to avoid this time is the two-hour delay that marked the 2016 game, due to the sun’s mid-afternoon glare off the ice making it unsafe for players.

“I remember it being a long day,” Connor said. “Maybe we’ll do (this one) at night.”

paul.friesen@kleinmedia.ca

X: @friesensunmedia

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‘A big spectacle’: Jets players pumped over return of Heritage Classic

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