There’s something magical about watching a good old game of Saturday night shinny under the lights and a thin veil of snow.
OK, maybe not everyone wants the snow.
As the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens keep a close eye on the weather report ahead of the 2017 Scotiabank NHL100 Classic, goaltender Carey Price knows exactly what he’s hoping for.
“I’m hoping for minus-10. That would be perfect,” Price said, via NHL.com on Tuesday. “No wind. No snow. It’s too hard to track the puck in snow.”
Right now, it looks like Price might get his wish. According to Environment Canada, Ottawa’s temperatures will be around -8 C to -10 C, with a 40 per cent chance of snow for Saturday’s 7 p.m. puckdrop at Lansdowne Park.
“Obviously, lighting is a big difference and how well it’s lit. It makes a big difference with your spatial awareness, too. You definitely feel it. Everything kind of feels further away,” said Price. “The elements have something to do with that, too, so I’m just going to try to keep things simple.”
This will be Price’s second outdoor game—he made his outdoor debut in Calgary with a 4-0 loss to the Flames at McMahon Stadium in 2011, and was out with an injury when the Habs defeated the Bruins 5-1 at Gillette Stadium in 2016.
“It’s refreshing playing outdoors, breathing in the cold air and playing in the elements. There’s nothing like it,” Price said. “It’s definitely one of those things that I’ll look back on my career and be glad that I took part in it.”
The No. 1 netminder also hinted at his helmet design for the all-Canadian matchup, which will feature a “new-school” design much different from the vintage-look mask he wore in Calgary in 2011.
“I’ve got new pads and gloves, and I’ve got a helmet coming. It’s going to be pretty flashy, actually,” said Price, who added that he’ll be incorporating silver into the design to match the special-edition sweaters. “It’s going to be really new-school.”
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