Cassidy excited, in search of new headwear for Winter Classic

The Seattle Kraken will host the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic on Jan. 1 at T-Mobile Park (3 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS). NHL.com will provide coverage leading up to the game each day between now and Jan. 1. Today, a look at Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy:

Bruce Cassidy needs a hat to wear during the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic.

"I'm hoping to find a fedora," the Vegas Golden Knights coach said.

Cassidy's headwear has been a story in the previous two outdoor games he coached with the Boston Bruins.

He borrowed defenseman Brandon Carlo's fedora during the 2019 Winter Classic between the Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks at Notre Dame Stadium on Jan. 1, 2019.

The Bruins players arrived at Notre Dame that day wearing attire straight from the hit television show "Peaky Blinders," a crime drama set in the early 1920s. They came sporting fedoras and Cassidy, needing something on his head to stay warm, took Carlo's.

"That was great," Cassidy said.

At the outdoor game between the Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers at Lake Tahoe on Feb. 21, 2021, Cassidy sported a classic Boston-style scally cap gifted to him by legendary broadcaster Mike "Doc" Emrick.

To bring it full circle, Emrick first learned about the brand of headwear while covering the Bruins and Blackhawks at Notre Dame in 2019.

"He shipped one to me and I'm forever grateful," Cassidy said. "Doc is a great guy and I still keep in touch with him, but I thought it was a very nice touch by him. These are good things.

But Cassidy needs something for his next outdoor adventure in the NHL, the 2024 Winter Classic between the Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken at T-Mobile Park, home of the Seattle Mariners, on Jan. 1.

"Maybe one of the guys will walk in that day and I'll just grab one of theirs like I did with Carlo," he said. "It worked out pretty well. Or maybe the best way to do it is to put something out there. It's not like I don't want to pay for it, I just don't know what to get. I'll even say there will be a nominal fee included, or a tip.

"I have to come up with something. I'm not a fashion statement guy when it comes to my head, or anything for that matter, but I should come up with something."

Cassidy jokes, but in truth, thinking about what he will wear on his head is all part of the outdoor game experience and what makes it unique.

"It's something you're not talking about 81 other times, so there's a little different vibe to it," Cassidy said.

The venue obviously brings a different vibe too, and Cassidy has coached in two at the NHL level that could not be more distinct and different.

At Notre Dame, he was in the shadows of the famous Touchdown Jesus, a rink built on top of arguably the most hallowed gridiron in all of football, where legends were made.

"That was very cool, the history of the building and the whole campus," Cassidy said. "We had great weather. It was 32 degrees, overcast, so great hockey weather. It wasn't too hot. You could see. Great atmosphere. You're playing the Blackhawks, so for me, that was special because that was the team that drafted me. And we won 4-2. It was a good hockey game."

At Lake Tahoe, he was in nature, a serene setting, with no fans because of COVID-19 restrictions, on a rink built across the 18th fairway of the Edgewood Tahoe Resort in Stateline, Nevada, on the shores of the lake, in a game that featured 10 goals, a 7-3 Bruins win, and in front of a pristine sunset.

"It was the most picturesque environment I've ever been in with the mountains in the background, the sun setting and the weather reasonable so you're not freezing," Cassidy said.

But at both venues, Cassidy never got to skate on the rink himself.

Rain blew up the plan for the Bruins and Blackhawks to practice at Notre Dame Stadium the day before the Winter Classic, so they had to go indoors to Compton Family Ice Arena on the Notre Dame campus.

That also ruined the plan for both teams to have a family skate at the stadium. Cassidy had his wife, Julie, and their kids, Shannon, who is now 14, and Cole, who is now 13, with him on that trip.

"It stunk for them," he said of not being able to skate at the stadium. "I'm building it up for them, 'Hey guys, you're going to get to skate there the day before at the family skate,' and we couldn't."

Julie, Shannon and Cole weren't with him at the game at Lake Tahoe because of COVID-19 restrictions, and the Bruins did not get to practice because the Colorado Avalanche and Golden Knights played the day before, a game that started in the afternoon but was forced to stop because of sun glare and picked up again at night.

"And that was a bit of a bummer for me," Cassidy said of not skating at Lake Tahoe.

The Golden Knights and Kraken are scheduled to practice at T-Mobile Park on Dec. 31. They're scheduled to have a family skate after that.

Julie, Shannon and Cole will be there.

"I would love that opportunity to skate on that ice, so I'm praying for a good day the day before," Cassidy said. "That is something they will remember forever. They will be able to say, 'I skated on that ice,' when they show clips from this Winter Classic. That's what I would like."