Experienced Outdoorsmen: Canes Talk Playing Outside

RALEIGH, NC. -Exactly one month from today the Carolina Hurricanes will play their first outdoor game in franchise history.
There's an obvious excitement amongst the players, staff, and fan base.
(No, I don't have information on jerseys. Sorry.)

For some, it will be their first venture into the world of hockey outside closed walls (at least in a professional setting), but for almost half of the Canes' current roster, playing outside will be a repeated venture.
11 of the team's current 23 players have played in either a Winter Classic, Stadium Series, or Heritage Classic game, giving them all a taste of what to expect at Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday, February 18.
"They're special games. I played one or two in Finland before coming to the NHL, and then I played in one with Chicago. We lost the game, so it wasn't that fun," Teuvo Teravainen said with a bit of a laugh and a smile when asked about his previous experiences. "But that game with the Blackhawks was in Minnesota, so it'll be nice to have one at home and in front of our fans."

With 55,000 expected across the street from PNC Arena, the locker room is excited to see how the already-loud Caniacs will translate into the football stadium setting.
"It's just a different atmosphere," Jesper Fast, who played at Citi Field with the New York Rangers in 2018, articulated. "Every time we are home we have 18,000 there to support us, so I think this is going to be really fun to have that many more."
Even with three outdoor games under his belt, Derek Stepan finds the experience hard to describe.
"The buildings that I've played in have just been crazy. It's like a different roar from the crowd," the veteran forward shared. "It's much, much different from being indoors."

Paul Stastny, a 2017 Winter Classic participant at Busch Stadium in St. Louis as a part of the Blues, offered an interesting comparison.
"It's almost like going to a baseball game. You know when you hear the ball hit the bat and like a second later you hear everyone? It's the same thing, but obviously this is different for our sport. It's really cool."
One common theme among all the players that have played in an outdoor game in their NHL careers, is that they'll all say it can be easier to appreciate after you've done it once before.
"As you get older you just try and enjoy it more. When you're younger and you have that many family and friends there, you kind of start to put pressure on yourself. Now I'm just going to try and enjoy it," Stastny continued. "We have the skate where you can bring your wife and your kids and that's obviously a really cool experience. You realize how special and how rare the opportunity it is, so you just try and enjoy it."
Plus, there's also the fact that it can break up the monotony of an 82-game season.
"It's gets you out of your normal routine, which is nice," Fast chimed back in. "It gives you a little more jump and more energy for the game. We all grew up playing outside and to be able to do it again gives you a little bit of that feeling like a kid again."
Puck drop between the Canes and Capitals for the affair is set for 8 p.m. Information on the team's Fan Fest, which will be held on February 17, can be found
here
. Details on parking, tailgating and an official reveal of the team's jerseys will be shared soon.

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