Hockey’s Pastime

One of the greatest traditions going on right now in the NHL is the outdoor games. Some of hockey’s most incredible moments happen during these games. Its good revenue for the NHL and usually are intriguing matchups.

The Pens have played in three outdoor games and have the most memorable moment in my opinion. The game’s best player, Sidney Crosby in the snow to win the game in a shootout and he scores. Besides the first game, the pens’ experience in outdoor games have been horrible. They hosted a game at Heinz Field and that game started the concussion problems for Sid the Kid. The other game was a blowout at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Another great thing about these games are the jerseys. Every team uses a throwback jersey of some sort. Arguably the nicest jerseys in the NHL come from their outdoor games. I personally love these games each and every year and look forward to them each year. It helps the teams with the jerseys sales and throwing it back with the jerseys from the past.

This year there are 4 games this year with 1 of them already happening this year. The Edmonton Oilers beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-0 in Winnipeg Manitoba. The NHL is promoting a Centennial Classic along with a Winter Classic game. On January 1^st 2017, the Detroit Red Wings play the Toronto Maple Leafs. The next day has the Winter Classic between the Chicago Blackhawks and the St. Louis Blues. Later on in the NHL season, Your Pittsburgh Penguins take on the hated Philadelphia Flyers on February 25 at Heinz Field. The jerseys for the Pens this year I absolutely love.

Another thing about these games each year that is awesome is the stadiums. The process of turning these big stadiums into hockey rinks are truly amazing. They only take a month or so to construct and they always make a time lapse of building the stadium. The amounts of people at these games are insane and they always sell out. The highest attended game was in 2015 and 70,205 people went to the game.