*Photo from Editor In Leaf*
The next NHL Heritage Classic has officially been set in stone. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres will square off in the 2022 Heritage Classic on March 13, 2022, according to an official announcement made by the NHL on Thursday morning.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement that ""We are excited to announce that we will be presenting another Tim Hortons Heritage Classic this season. When the Toronto Maple Leafs meet the Buffalo Sabres at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, we again will honor Canada's preeminent role in the history of our game while renewing a great and longstanding NHL rivalry. In addition, by inviting the first U.S.-based team to a Heritage Classic, we will celebrate the greater Golden Horseshoe region as the home of so many fans of both the Leafs and Sabres."
The game will be played at Tim Horton's Field in Hamilton, Ontario, which is the home of the Hamilton Tiger Cats of the CFL. The stadium typically fits 23,000 fans, but can be expanded to as many as 40,000 depending on event size. This will be the 6th Heritage Classic since the event started in 2003, and the first since 2019, when the Winnipeg Jets beat the Calgary Flames 2-1 in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Despite the game being played in Canada, the Sabres will be considered as the home team for the game, as they were originally scheduled to host the Maple Leafs in Buffalo on March 13. This will be the 35th outdoor game played in the history of the NHL.
Sabres GM Kevyn Adams said of playing in the game that "It's an honor to play in the Heritage Classic game. It will be an incredible atmosphere and we are thrilled to be able to play the Maple Leafs in this special event. Many of us fell in love with hockey while playing on the pond or in backyards, so this will give us a chance to get back to our roots while celebrating the game of hockey."
This will be the 3rd outdoor game scheduled for the 2021-2022 season by the NHL, as there will be two other outdoor games played before the Heritage Classic gets underway. The annual winter classic will take place on New Years day at Target Field in Minnesota, where the Minnesota Wild and the St.Louis Blues will play each other. The NHL Stadium series will be played in Nashville on February 26, when the Nashville Predators and Tampa Bay Lightning will play.
Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan said "The Toronto Maple Leafs are proud to participate in the 2022 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic. We're excited at the opportunity to play outdoors again and to bring this great divisional rivalry outside in front of our two devoted fanbases in Hamilton."
Entering this outdoor game, the Maple Leafs will take with them a 2-1-0 record in outdoor games, while the Sabres enter with a 0-0-2 record.
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