Winter Classic 2026
The Winter Classic is coming to South Florida in 2026 as the Florida Panthers host the New York Rangers!
Quick Hits
- Ice hockey registration in Florida is up 212% in the 25-year span from 1999 to 2024. That includes a 16.1% YOY increase in girls hockey participation from 2023 to 2024.
- The 2024-25 campaign will be the sixth straight season with at least eight Florida-born players. A decade ago, there had never been more than two in one campaign.
- The Stanley Cup Final has featured a Florida team in each of the past five years (Panthers 2x; Lightning 3x).
- The Panthers will become the 31st franchise to participate in an NHL outdoor game.
- This is the ninth straight season with at least 20 Florida-born men’s players skating in NCAA Division 1.
Growth of the Game in Florida
- Ice hockey registration in the state of Florida is up 212% in the 25-year span from 1999 to 2024. There were 21,199 registered players in the state last season per USA Hockey (including 1,660 female players), more than triple the amount from the turn of the millennium.
- Registration in girls hockey increased 16.1% YOY from 2023 to 2024. That is part of a 56% growth over the past eight years (since 2016-17). There are 60 dedicated girls’ Learn to Play programs with on-ice programming per year in Florida.
- Florida is also home to the Amerigol LATAM Cup, a premier international hockey tournament supported annually by the Panthers and NHL/NHLPA Industry Growth Fund (IGF). Designed to break barriers and unite non-traditional hockey markets in a thrilling display of skill, passion and camaraderie, the sixth annual event took place in 2024, with more than 1,100 players representing 17 countries across 52 participating teams (a 58% increase in the number of teams from 2023, when 33 teams played in the event).
- As of June 2024, $4 million in NHL/NHLPA IGF grants were awarded to the Panthers, helping to fund various projects including the first synthetic outdoor ice rink in the state (a historic initiative spearheaded by former Lightning and Panthers forward Anthony Duclair)
Five Straight Years of Florida Teams in the Stanley Cup Final
- The NHL first expanded to Florida over 30 years ago when the Lightning contested their inaugural season in 1992-93 followed by the Panthers playing their first campaign in 1993-94. Both franchises have enjoyed significant success since then, with each of the last five Stanley Cup Final series featuring either Tampa Bay or Florida dating to 2020. The Panthers won the historic 2024 Final to capture their first Cup, while the Lightning joined a rare list of repeat champions in NHL history with their titles in 2020 and 2021 before a defeat in 2022.
- The Panthers reached the Final during their first playoff appearance in 1996, while the Lightning captured the Cup just 12 seasons into their existence in 2004. The 1996 postseason also featured another noteworthy moment in Florida hockey history, with Tampa Bay setting a then NHL attendance record when 28,183 fans flocked to Game 4 of the Conference Quarterfinals at Thunderdome (now Tropicana Field).
- The Lightning and Panthers are playing to 100% and 98% capacity crowds this season, respectively (both above the 96% League average). Florida sold out its season tickets for the first time following its Stanley Cup win.
Outdoor Game Quick Hits
- The warmest puck-drop temperature for an NHL outdoor game was 65ºF/18ºC in the 2016 Stadium Series at Coors Field in Denver, Colo., on Feb. 27, 2016. Click here to view the temperature of every NHL outdoor game.
- The weather at puck drop has been noted as “sunny” for seven NHL outdoor games. The weather at puck drop is noted for all NHL outdoor games through 2023-24, starting on page 12 of the Winter Classic Guide.
- The state of Florida will become the southernmost hosts of an NHL outdoor game. To date, that distinction belongs to Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas, Texas (32.78 degrees latitude), which welcomed 85,630 fans – the second-largest crowd ever at an NHL game – for the 2020 Winter Classic.
- The Panthers are set to become the 31st franchise to contest an NHL outdoor game. (Florida and Utah will be the only active franchises yet to have played outdoors, through 2024-25.)
- Florida is set to become the 19th U.S. state to host at least one outdoor game. Washington, D.C., and five Canadian provinces have also hosted.
Florida-Born Players in the NHL
- There are eight Florida-born players in the NHL this season (min. 1 GP entering Dec. 27), including seven who were born after the League began play in the Sunshine State in 1992.
- This season, there are eight Florida-born players in the NHL, more than double the amount from a decade ago. The 2024-25 season will mark the sixth straight campaign with at least eight Florida-born players (the record of 12 was set in 2021-22 and matched in 2022-23). A decade ago, there had never been more than two Florida-born players in any NHL season.
- Bruins forward Andrew Peeke (Parkland, Fla.) is one of those eight Florida-born players. In an ESPN article published during the 2024 Second Round series between the Bruins and Panthers, Peeke shared a story about falling in love with hockey at a skating event hosted by the Panthers.
- The eight Florida-born players in the NHL this season are Andrew Peeke (BOS; Parkland, Fla.), Seamus Casey (NJD; Miami, Fla.), Jakob Chychrun (WSH; Boca Raton, Fla.), Shayne Gostisbehere (CAR; Pembroke Pines, Fla.), Brandon Duhaime (WSH; Coral Springs, Fla.), Garnet Hathaway (PHI; Naples, Fla.), along with Jack Hughes (NJD) and Quinn Hughes (VAN) who were born in Orlando but spent most of their childhood elsewhere.
- Thirty-three Florida-born players have been selected in the NHL Draft, including 21 since the League expanded to the state and 21 since 2016 (nearly two-thirds of the state’s all-time representation in the NHL Draft; 64%, 21 of 33). Among that group is Chase Priskie (No. 177 in 2016), who was part of the Panthers’ Learn to Play program as a child and in 2021-22 became the first player born and trained in Florida to suit up for the franchise.
- The NHL awaits the first Florida-born goaltender to play in a game (two have dressed for a game, but neither played: Zachary Andrews and Kyle Keyser).
Florida-Born Players in the NCAA
- This is the ninth straight season with at least 20 Florida-born men’s players skating in NCAA Division 1. Before 2016-17, there had been only one season all-time with 20+ Florida-born players at the D1 level.
- In 2024-25, the list of Florida-born D1 players in the NCAA includes three recent NHL Draft picks: goaltender Jacob Fowler (Melbourne, Fla.; No. 69 in 2023 by MTL), along with forwards Jake Richard (Jacksonville, Fla.; No. 170 in 2022 by BUF) and Rhett Pitlick (Coral Springs, Fla.; No. 131 in 2019 by MTL).
- Fowler, the highest-drafted Florida-born goaltender in NHL history, helped the United States win a gold medal at
the 2024 World Junior Championship. - Pitlick is one of two Florida-born NCAA players whose father played for either the Panthers or Lightning – his dad, Lance, played for the Panthers from 1999-00 to 2001-02 (the other is Lucas Ölvestad, who was born in Tampa when his father, Jimmie, played for the Lightning; Lucas played the bulk of his development years in Sweden).
- Jack Musa and his brother, Joey, are two of the Florida-born NCAA players. Jack, an undrafted forward, finished second in scoring for UMass last season and earn an invite to the Panthers’ development camp in July 2024.