Regardless, the 2023 Stadium Series game between Washington and Carolina looked like the image above, and we really need to stop having these games for a couple of reasons. The first - and perhaps, most obvious - reason is that more outdoor games makes the Winter Classic less special since it seems there are teams playing outdoors at all points in the season, and we need to look at this seriously. The second is due to the horrific jerseys these teams wear, and I will not apologize for this stance despite me likely able to write a hundred paragraphs on the subject.
We'll focus on frequency, though, and I'm not sure why the NHL has devalued their own product so much. The Winter Classic was THE EVENT every year that hockey fans had to watch. The first one in Buffalo in 2008 that featured the Penguins and Sabres was exceptional in its delivery with the snow falling, the teams playing to a 1-1 tie through regulation, and was capped off by a Sidney Crosby shootout goal when he was still the NHL's most marketable star. The annual event has been to many places since, but I'm not sure any of them have captured the same aura that surrounded that game.
There have been 13 Winter Classic games since that first one in Buffalo, and we've seen all sorts of historic venues host the games - Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, Michigan Stadium, and Notre Dame Stadium as examples - but too often the same teams have appeared in these games or they've returned to a city that has already hosted the game once. The repeated teams and locations hasn't helped sell the game any further, but it was still fairly unique in that there were no other outdoor games on the schedule. Until 2014, that is.
Since the first Stadium Series game took place in 2014, there have 12 Stadium Series games played! As you can see, cramming 26 outdoor games into 15 years - and that includes the lockout and pandemic years - is a good way to take the shine off the marquee annual event that was created for January 1 by the NHL. And to make matters worse, a lot of the Stadium Series games feature teams that have already played in a Winter Classic!
While I'm sure that tonight's Stadium Series game was special for the people of Raleigh, but I'm done with outdoor games for a while. There's zero mystique left when it comes to playing outdoors, and the players often look like clowns with their ridiculous uniforms. Can it be saved? I will grant that the outdoor game at Lake Tahoe in 2021 is something of which I'd like to see the NHL do more because it feels like old-time hockey with kids skating on a pond, but the only way to save the outdoor games at major stadiums is if the NHL follows the advice contained within three words: less is more.
The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Washington Capitals by a 4-1 score tonight, so the hometown fans went home very happy from their first NHL outdoor game in their state. Carolina moved to 1-0-0 in outdoor games while Washington falls to 3-1-0 after the loss tonight. It looked like a good time for all who were in attendance, but this writer feels that we need less outdoor games to have more interest in them. With 2024's Winter Classic already having been announced with the Vegas Golden Knights visiting the Seattle Kraken at T-Mobile Park, we'll see what Seattle can do to try and salvage an event that feels like it's quickly losing steam.
Less is more when it comes to making outdoor games into can't-miss events. Otherwise, they just become another game on the schedule.
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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