Whiney McWhinerson

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=usfansdeserveaclassic&prov=tsn&type=lgns

U.S. fans deserve a Classic

By Kara Yorio


In Canada, the Heritage Classic -- an outdoor game in Edmonton between the Oilers and the Canadiens that counts in the standings and has created quite a stir from Newfoundland to British Columbia -- unfolds on Saturday. Good seats are going for $1,000 (about $1,300 Canadian) or more on eBay. The organizers have more volunteers than they know what to do with. And before the game, there's a little alumni game featuring Wayne Gretzky -- someone who doesn't play in alumni games and says he never will again.

So this is a big deal. At least to the True North, strong and free. Here in the United States, the game is Opportunity Lost. Not a classic, but a classic NHL error -- a great event that will be a spectacle and will have history (Oilers alums vs. Canadiens greats) and millionaires who normally complain about any inconvenience or ice problem layered up in clothes and playing in front of more than 50,000 fans. Sound great? Well, if you don't have the NHL Center Ice package through a satellite dish or digital cable service, don't get too excited, because you won't be able to see the real game the United States. The alumni game will be streamed live on nhl.com. With no TV in the United States, it makes sense that the Heritage Classic hasn't been marketed south of the Canadian border, but that's the only thing that makes sense about it.

On a league conference call, Oilers V.P. of marketing and communications Allan Watt was asked if he was disappointed the game isn't on U.S. cable networks.

"I am disappointed by it on the one hand," he says. "On the other hand, to move it another week further into November would have been really going a little higher up on the tightrope with a little less net underneath. November the 29th in Edmonton, there can be a big (weather) difference in those seven days. I appreciate that November 22 is near American Thanksgiving, and it comes with a big football component to it. I do understand that what we have initiated here and what we have been able to pull off here, and what I know will be a successful event here is transferable to other places. This is a celebration of what hockey is all about."

This is a celebration, but the casual American fan is not invited. Moving the game back created weather concerns. Watt says the event couldn't have been held earlier at Commonwealth Stadium because of the Canadian Football League schedule. That's understandable, and the league certainly can't strong-arm networks into bumping all-important college football for some regular-season NHL game. This is not a league with that much power. But in a world of media conglomerates -- and not only ESPN2, ESPN News and ESPN Classic but an ABC family that includes ABC Family and others -- was there no air time anywhere to be had? Was there no way to get one of them to open up time on a Saturday night and show a little pond hockey?

In a season hampered by the collective bargaining agreement and low scoring, a positive story filled with the grandeur, glory and roots of the game is there to be celebrated. But the U.S. fans aren't invited to the party -- not even to look in from the outside.

If another of these games is planned and can't capture the imagination of some network programmers, is it possible to make it non-dish viewing for at least a region of a state somewhere, a local game for some American fans?

Next time around, could a U.S. team come out and play?