NHL outdoor games

The first outdoor game on record to feature an NHL team was attempted on February 2, 1954.[1] The Detroit Red Wings played an exhibition game on an outdoor ice surface, in 21 °F (−6 °C) degree weather, against the Marquette Pirates, an athletic club composed of inmates at Michigan's Marquette Branch Prison. The game, and the Pirates club, was allegedly organized as a way for Red Wings manager Jack Adams to make good with two convicted mafia members incarcerated at the prison. By the end of the first period alone, the Red Wings had amassed an 18–0 score against the prisoners; score keeping was abandoned after that point and the rest of the game effectively became an informal scrimmage.[2]

Two years after the 1954 prison match, the Boston Bruins went on a postseason barnstorm of Atlantic Canada in April 1956, which included a stop in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland. On April 9, 1956 the Bruins played an exhibition game against teams from the Conception Bay North Hockey League on an outdoor artificial ice surface, under similar rules to those of the 1954 prison match. Four teams each played one period against the Bruins who dominated the game. Only one goal was scored on Terry Sawchuk by the local teams.[3]

During their time at the Civic Arena, the Pittsburgh Penguins could have theoretically hosted an outdoor NHL game due to the arena having a retractable roof. (The arena was originally built for the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, who only stayed at the arena until 1973.) However, the roof was always closed during hockey games with both the Penguins and their AHL predecessors, the Pittsburgh Hornets, whom the Penguins replaced upon the 1967 NHL expansion. The roof was permanently closed after 1994 when the Penguins replaced the center scoreboard.[4]

The first outdoor game between two NHL teams (and the first played to completion) was an official pre-season match-up on September 27, 1991. The game took place in the parking lot of Caesars Palace[5] in Las Vegas, Nevada, and featured the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers.[6] The process of keeping the ice cool in the desert heat required three times as much coolant as a standard NHL rink.[7] There were few problems despite temperatures that reached 95 °F (35 °C) during the day and a game time temperature of 80 °F (27 °C).[7] During the contest grasshoppers began to jump onto the ice, where they would freeze or drown in water used to maintain the ice, and by the end of the second period the ice was littered with the bugs.[6] Nearly 14,000 fans watched the Kings defeat the Rangers 5–2.[8] Since 1997, the Los Angeles Kings have returned to Las Vegas to play an annual indoors preseason game as part of the Frozen Fury series. As of the 2017–2018 season Las Vegas has its own NHL franchise.

The first regular season outdoor game in the history of the NHL took place on November 22, 2003, at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, when the Edmonton Oilers played the Montreal Canadiens in the 2003 Heritage Classic.[9] The Oilers had suggested the idea of hosting an outdoor game as early as the mid 1980s,[10] but the genesis of the 2003 event was the "Cold War" outdoor game played two years prior between Michigan State University and the University of Michigan.[11]

The inaugural Winter Classic was played at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo, New York

In 2005, NBC Sports Executive VP Jon Miller then pitched the concept an annual outdoor game as a television event to the NHL, "but they didn't find the concept workable."[12] In December 2006, Miller found an ally in then-league Executive VP/Business & Media John Collins, who embraced the idea.[13][14] This led to the inaugural Winter Classic game on January 1, 2008, with the Pittsburgh Penguins visiting the Buffalo Sabres at Ralph Wilson Stadium.[9]

On May 1, 2013, the NHL announced that the Chicago Blackhawks would host the Pittsburgh Penguins at Soldier Field in Chicago on March 1, 2014, as part of a new series of outdoor games called the NHL Stadium Series.[15] By the end of May 2013, the NHL had scheduled a record six outdoor NHL games for the 2013–14 season: one Winter Classic, one Heritage Classic, and four Stadium Series games.

In scheduling outdoor games in the New York metropolitan area that feature the New York Rangers (first occurring during two of the four 2014 Stadium Series games, and subsequently the 2018 Winter Classic), the team has always been designated as the "away" team. This is to maintain the property tax-exempt status of the Rangers' home arena, Madison Square Garden (MSG). The tax exemption stipulates that it only applies if the Rangers do not "cease playing" home games at MSG, generally interpreted as playing any "home" game outside of MSG.[16][17] By designating the Rangers as the "away" team and Buffalo as the "home" team in the 2018 Winter Classic at Citi Field in New York City, it would save MSG from paying more than $40 million in property taxes.[18]

Up until 2013, NHL's outdoor games were held exclusively in Canada and in the Midwest and Northeast United States. That changed in the 2014 Stadium Series when the Los Angeles Kings became the first West Coast team to host a regular season outdoor game, facing their in-city rival Anaheim Ducks at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on January 25.[19] The San Jose Sharks followed suit, hosting their archrival Kings in the 2015 NHL Stadium Series at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara.[20] The first outdoor game to take place in a Southern state took place in the 2020 Winter Classic when the Dallas Stars hosted the Nashville Predators at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.[21] The Carolina Hurricanes were expected to the 2021 NHL Stadium Series at Carter–Finley Stadium in Raleigh, becoming the first warm-climate Eastern Conference team to host an outdoor game.[22]

The 2019 NHL Stadium Series was held at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

In 2016, the Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers worked out an agreement to play a home-and-home series of outdoors games.[23] The two archrivals played the 2017 Stadium Series game at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, and then played the 2019 Stadium Series game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The two teams had also discussed playing a neutral site game at Beaver Stadium at State College, Pennsylvania, but this did not materialize, due mainly to concerns about Beaver Stadium's plumbing being unable to withstand an event in winter[24][23] On March 6, 2016, the NHL officially announced that the Jets will host the Oilers in the 2016 Heritage Classic during the 2016–17 NHL season, held in October.[25]

To celebrate the NHL's 100th year in 2017, the league held two special outdoor games. The first, branded as the Centennial Classic, between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs, was held on January 1 (during the 2016–17 NHL season) to kick off the year.[26] The second, branded as the NHL 100 Classic, was held on December 16 (during the 2017–18 season) between the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators.[27]

When the 2018 NHL Stadium Series at Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium at the U.S. Naval Academy was announced, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said that it was the start of a unique partnership with the U.S. military in which the league plans to host outdoor games at military service academies around the United States.[28] The 2020 NHL Stadium Series was held at Falcon Stadium at the U.S. Air Force Academy on February 15, 2020.[29]

In 2021, the NHL announced the creation of a two-game series, the NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe, to function as the replacement for the cancelled outdoor games of the 2020–21 season.[30] In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, fans will not be allowed at the games and instead the games will serve as a made-for-television event intended to simulate pond hockey.[31]

Hosting statistics

The 2019 Heritage Classic at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Saskatchewan, was the first Heritage Classic held outside the locales the participants are based in

As of January 1, 2020:

• 25 of the NHL's 31 teams will have participated in an outdoor regular season game. The six that have not yet been selected are Arizona, Carolina, Columbus, Florida, Tampa Bay and Vegas.
• 12 teams will have played more than one game.
• Chicago has made the most appearances (6).
• 20 metropolitan areas (out of 28 represented among the league's 31 teams) have hosted outdoor regulation games. In addition to the six metropolitan areas represented by teams that have not played in any outdoor games, Montreal and Nashville have played in outdoor games but have yet to host any themselves (New Jersey has also not yet hosted a home game in its home state despite having the capacity to do so, its home city of Newark is still part of the New York metropolitan area.)
• New York City and Chicago/Northern Indiana have each hosted three games. Massachusetts, Maryland–DC, Colorado, Pittsburgh and Winnipeg/Eastern Prairies will have each hosted twice by March 2020.
• Yankee Stadium and Heinz Field will have each hosted two games.
• In the 2019 Heritage Classic, Saskatchewan (a province that has been a longshot candidate for NHL expansion for decades) became the first fully neutral-site territory to host an outdoor regular season game, with Winnipeg as the designated home team (their second).

Fireworks after the end of the 2011 Heritage Classic, held at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta. The game was the second Heritage Classic held by the NHL.

The 2014 Winter Classic was held at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The game saw over 105,000 people in attendance.

The second game of the 2016 Stadium Series was held at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado

Bolded teams denote winners

Skaters with the Chicago Blackhawks warming up prior to the 2015 Winter Classic. The Blackhawks have participated in six outdoor games.

This table excludes exhibition games with non-NHL opponents (such as those in 1954 and 1956) and pre-season games (such as the one in 1991).

‡ The Rangers were designated as the visiting team for the three games held in New York City to comply with a property tax exemption for Madison Square Garden that requires the Rangers to play all of their home games at the arena.

Italics indicate a future outdoor game.

Media related to NHL outdoor games at Wikimedia Commons