Tickets for the 2019 Heritage Classic will go on sale on April 25.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly made the announcement at Mosaic Stadium on Friday morning.
Daly says ticket pricing has been developed, but wasn’t able to speak to exact costs following the press conference.
“We want to make the game affordable for people to attend even if they’re not fans of either team, so that’s the goal,” Daly said. “I know the ticket on-sale is on April 25, so my guess is it’ll be shortly before then or maybe on that date.”
The game will feature the Winnipeg Jets and the Calgary Flames at Mosaic Stadium on Oct. 26.
“To be able to do (an outdoor game) on the prairies again, I thought the idea is just brilliant to host it here, so we’re thrilled,” said Mark Chipman, Executive Chairman of the Winnipeg Jets.
It will be the first regular-season NHL game in Saskatchewan, and the first time an outdoor game will be played outside of an NHL market.
“There’s no doubt the passion is here and the fans are passionate about all sports and they’re really proud of their community. So I think this is going to be a knock-it-out-of-the-park event for hockey,” said Calgary Flames President John Bean, who has roots in Saskatchewan.
“These outdoor games, there’s lots of pageantry, but they’re real games,” Chipman said. “I think it’s really smart to have teams that are accustomed to playing one another and so I think it ought to be a great game,” Chipman said.
“It’s something we’ve actually been considering for a number of years and Regina has always been on top of the list for potential neutral sites,” Daly said. “Having the ability to bring two teams who are almost equal distance from this city to a neutral site was also attractive to us.”
“We knew this market was hungry for sports, and particularly for hockey and we thought clearly it was an appropriate time to bring the game here.”
The Jets are the home team on paper but the Flames say they expect to see a large “C of Red” at Mosaic Stadium.
“Everyone knows that there’s so many great people that grow up in Saskatchewan that have migrated to Alberta and so we do genuinely think this is going to feel like a home crowd,” Bean said.
Daly added that Saskatchewan has produced 514 NHL players — 95 from Regina specifically. There are also 17 Saskatchewan-born players in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Previous Heritage Classic games have also played host to alumni games and junior hockey action, but currently no plans of that nature for Regina have been confirmed.
