According to an article on CBS New York, Yankee stadium will be used for not another baseball game but an ice hockey game. This winter the stadium will be used for two games with the New York Rangers, New York Islands and the New Jersey Devils participating along with one other team. Their seems to be a trend going on each season as the NHL has now continually held the annual Winter Classic event – an outdoor game played on January 1st for a number of years. Unfortunately last season the event was canceled due to the condensed and shortened schedule with the lockout.
It seems that the NHL is looking to promote the game even more and why not at a rather unlikely setting in Yankee Stadium. This won’t be the only outdoor game, as there will be others as well. I guess the NHL is trying to give back to the fans and show them some great games in fun settings. A lot of fans grew restless last year when the lockout continued for months and didn’t end until the very last moment. The players association and the NHL were going back and forth trying to hash out a deal that seemed would never be resolved. Luckily they did come to a resolution and managed to have a partial season even though it was only half the games.
“To take this wonderful, iconic venue and do something that’s never been done in it before, play hockey games, we thought would be a lot of fun,” said the NHL commissioner. There is nothing cooler than watching ice hockey outside, how it used to be played for years and years. Pond hockey is how a lot of hockey players grew up and refined their skills. It must be fun for the professionals to be on such a big stage and outside again – I’m sure a lot of them must feel like kids again.
