Whenever it comes time to pin a new calendar on your wall it’s also time to get ready for some outdoor NHL action.
Since 2014, there have been eight outdoor games and this season the NHL is bringing the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic to Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts on New Year’s Day. Then, in February, the league’s Stadium Series will see games take place at TCF Bank Stadium in Minnesota and Coors Field in Colorado.
With these games quickly approaching, here are five places the NHL should consider holding future Winter Classics.
Toronto
Rogers Centre would be interesting, but the dome is never opened in the winter so the timing for this would likely never work. However, holding an outdoor game at BMO Field (home of Toronto FC and the Toronto Argonauts) could work. It would be an intimate outdoor game, though, considering you’d only be able to fit about 30,000 fans in the venue even after the recent renovations. In January, Ken Campbell of The Hockey News reported Toronto getting an outdoor game could happen in the near future.
Las Vegas
The NHL seems dead set on putting a team in Sin City, but until that happens why not bring them outdoor game as a type of audition for the fan base there. Oddly enough, it wouldn’t be the first time the NHL has hosted a game under the Nevada sun. In 1991, the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers played an exhibition game outside of Caesars Palace.
Ohio Stadium
It is consistently voted as one of the best college football stadiums in the United States and it could produce the same type of atmosphere we saw when the Red Wings played the Maple Leafs at Michigan Stadium two years ago. This would be an opportunity for a team like the Columbus Blue Jackets to participate in an outdoor game. Put them against heated rival Pittsburgh Penguins (it’s an easy trip for fans from neighbouring Pennsylvania) and the Ohio State Buckeyes faithful will be go buck wild. Buck. Wild.
Wembley Stadium
The NHL has held games in England in recent years so if they went back across the pond, why not go big? You could pack north of 80,000 fans in the iconic venue and the energy could be intense. Those in attendance would have that soccer fan mentality, singing and cheering throughout the entire game.
Chamonix, France
Why not go back to the site of the first official Winter Olympics? In 1924, Canada, who was represented by the defending Allan Cup champion Toronto Granites, won gold. Even though it was the first Winter Games, technically it wasn’t the first Olympic hockey tournament. Canada (the Winnipeg Falcons) also won gold in ice hockey at the 1920 Summer Olympics. Seriously.
