Jan 11: The NHL has officially announced the games, confirming the dates reported by Friedman earlier this month. The Avalanche and Golden Knights will play in the “Bridgestone NHL Outdoors Saturday” while the Bruins and Flyers will play in the “Honda NHL Outdoors Sunday.”
Jan 1: On February 20, the NHL is going to Lake Tahoe. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report this morning that the league plans on hosting two outdoor games at the Edgewood Tahoe Resort next month with no fans. The Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights will play on February 20, while the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins battle the following day.
Previous reports had the league searching for an outdoor location like this, with Lake Louise, Alberta, and Park City, Utah two that Friedman mentions in today’s piece. While those locations ultimately proved impossible, the league is still getting its outdoor games.
These matches will do something to replace the usual outdoor games that have been canceled for this season. The Winter Classic (originally scheduled for today) and Stadium Series matches were nixed for this season, with Minneapolis and Raleigh expected to host events in the future. Those were obviously supposed to draw huge crowds and drive revenue for the host clubs, something that the Lake Tahoe event isn’t designed for. Instead, it will be a more intimate performance on the golf course, with Friedman reporting that only around 400 people will be involved.
Well, that’s good news to start the New Year, eh, Gavin! Hope you, Zach, Brian and Holger are having a good one so far!
Happy New Year to you as well Mac.
Happy New Year gents. actually looking forward to this. no crowd will suck revenue wise but sound quality of the game should be better. Can imagine in 2022 the league going bananas with outdoor games. Wondering if we could see some dual weekend games. or Saturday home and home for close teams. (Alberta’s, Ontario’s, NYs, Pennsylvania’s) can imagine some owners would be willing to take the hit on a traditional home game if they get revenue from an outdoor game they are the “home team” for
@MoneyBallJustWorks – HNY! Nice ideas there! Thumbs up!