Price: Playing outdoors a career highlight

MONTREAL - If Carey Price could pass along a request to Mother Nature ahead of Saturday night's NHL100 Classic in Ottawa, it would be this:

"I'm hoping for -10. That would be perfect," cracked Price, before adding some additional weather-related criteria to his appeal. "No wind. No snow. It's too hard to track the puck in snow."
While it remains to be seen if she'll comply, the 30-year-old goaltender already has a plan to stay toasty in between the pipes at Lansdowne Park as the contest rolls on.
"I'm probably going to wear a merino wool base layer. I find it kind of keeps you warm while you're sweating. We'll see how that goes," said Price, who will be making his second career appearance outdoors and his first since the 2011 Heritage Classic in Calgary. "It will also be important to keep moving, stay loose and stay active out there."

The five-time All-Star will surely be extra active in the early going as he tries to adjust his game to the intricacies of playing in an outdoor venue in nighttime conditions, with puck drop scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
"Obviously, lighting is a big difference and how well it's lit. It makes a big difference with your spatial awareness, too. You definitely feel it. Everything kind of feels further away," explained Price. "The elements have something to do with that, too, so I'm just going to try to keep things simple."
One thing Price won't have to adjust to, though, is the feel of the puck hitting his chest protector. Veteran assistant equipment manager Pierre Ouellette has been making sure of that for years.
"Steamer already freezes our pucks here for morning skates," said Price with a laugh. "So it can't be worse than that."
In terms of his open-air style, after donning a retro mask in Alberta six years ago, Price is going with a more modern look this time around equipment-wise for the celebratory event.

"I've got new pads and gloves, and I've got a helmet coming. It's going to be pretty flashy, actually. It's going to be really new-school. I'm just starting to break in the pads right now," said Price, before expanding upon his inspiration for the color scheme of the new gear. "I went off the jerseys. We don't see silver often in the Canadiens uniform, so I played off of that quite a bit."
No doubt the Anahim Lake, BC native plans on soaking up everything that the upcoming weekend has to offer, especially after being forced to watch from the sidelines when the Canadiens last played outdoors in the 2016 Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA.
"It's refreshing playing outdoors, breathing in the cold air and playing in the elements. There's nothing like it," said Price. "It's definitely one of those things that I'll look back on my career and be glad that I took part in it."

That includes taking his 19-month-old daughter, Liv, for a spin around the rink during Friday afternoon's Family Skate, just like he did at the 2017 NHL All-Star Skills Competition at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles.
"She's going to enjoy it," concluded Price. "She likes being around people. She's very social."