“I was there the other day, and it’s just pretty special,” said Boone Jenner, who visited the stadium to start the promotional campaign for the game. “Standing on the turf and looking up and seeing how big that crowd is, and being at football games, you know how loud it is and how many people are there. To take it outdoors and play at The ‘Shoe, it’s awesome.”
While the event will be unique to Columbus, there are a handful of current Blue Jackets players who have experience with outdoor hockey. Johnny Gaudreau, Ivan Provorov, Patrik Laine, Jack Roslovic and Kuraly all have suited up in NHL contests outside, with Kuraly scoring the game-winning goal in the 2019 Winter Classic held at Notre Dame Stadium as Boston beat Chicago. In addition, Zach Werenski, Andrew Peeke and Adam Fantilli all played in outdoor games as college players.
“There’s just something to playing outdoors that just feels (childlike) almost, in a way, which is fun,” Kuraly said. “It’s just pure. And then you couple that with all the people in the crowd, it’s just a different feel than in an arena, and a special one. You can really feel it. You almost feel kind of like what a gladiator or something like that would feel like.”
This February’s two Stadium Series games at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey drew a combined 150,018 fans in games that matched up New Jersey and Philadelphia as well as the New York Rangers and Islanders. The attendance of 79,690 in the stadium for the battle of New York was the largest attendance for an NHL outdoor game since more than 85,000 fans filled the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 2020, for the Winter Classic between Dallas and St. Louis.
Musical guests at Metlife included the Jonas Brothers, The Gaslight Anthem and AJR, while noted New Jersey native Max Weinberg also took part in the proceedings. Players from the New York Giants and Jets were featured along with NHL legends during the 40th and 41st outdoor games in league history.