Heritage Classic blog: Jake Evans

Montreal Canadiens forward Jake Evans is keeping his own blog through the 2026 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic at Winnipeg’s Princess Auto Stadium on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX).

In his first entry, Evans discusses what it will be like for him to play in the Heritage Classic against the Winnipeg Jets.

Every NHL player, when you find out the schedule, would hope to play in at least one outdoor game and experience that. 

I think just the entire experience in general is new, it’s exciting, there are tons of fans and you’re playing in some pretty cool stadiums too, that you don’t think you’ll get the chance to be around otherwise. 

Then just being outdoors, you wouldn’t think you would ever get a chance to play an NHL game outdoors, so that’s pretty exciting. 

I’ve played in an outdoor game way back when I was playing in Junior A in the Ontario Junior Hockey League. I don’t have too many memories of that, except that it was in Buffalo. 

I’m not sure what stadium it was played it, it was a minor-league stadium, but it was fun though, it was a great experience. 

I think the game in Winnipeg is going to be awesome. 

I’ve had a few people reach out and say the stadium is loud and fun to be at. I think for us, it’s going to be double the number of fans that we’re used to playing in front of. 

Winnipeg fans are always quite loud, and we always travel really well with our Habs fans too. I think the entire environment is going to be loud and exciting. 

When I was growing up, I mostly played indoors, but any chance you get where it’s not organized hockey and you have nothing else going on, you try and find the cheapest ice or the free ice that you can and that usually means going outdoors with somebody and finding some spots. 

There were a few times with the family as well, we find some outdoor areas and get out there. 

We have a quick skate the day before the game and hopefully we can get some of an adjustment of playing outdoors there.

As much as the NHL puts into the ice, it’s not all in their control, so I’m sure the game will be a little bit different. It’s about adjusting quickly to it and probably keeping things simpler with the puck, especially to start. 

I think for players, even though if you win the game, it’s still just two points, but it’s a game you really want to win. 

You want to have a good experience and more positive feelings about it and so the game is at a heightened level and I think for fans, it’s a new experience that you want to a game in a different way than just a normal NHL arena. 

I think for both the fans it’s something different and for us, it’s a big game that you want to have more positive feels for afterwards. 

I remember watching the Stadium Series all the time and the Winter Classics growing up and I think the Pittsburgh-Buffalo one where Sidney Crosby scored is the one that sticks out to me the most. 

It’s important to enjoy the time outside and it’s something that most of us haven’t done, but I think once the game starts, you kind of tune everything out and just play hockey. You want to get those two points and get rolling a bit. 

I think as a team and individually our season has been a little up and down so far. We feel good about our team and how we play, it’s just about putting it all together. 

You can probably say the same for me, it’s about putting things together and executing on the ice. It’s nice for us to get on the road as a group and kind of just focus on hockey right now.