The WHL and the Calgary Hitmen made official today what many of us have known/suspected for a while: the WHL will play its first outdoor game this coming season, on February 21 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary. The Regina Pats will provide the Hitmen's opposition for the afternoon game.
The NHL will be holding an outdoor game there the previous day, between the Calgary Flames and Montreal Canadiens, so the WHL will not have to go through the expense of setting up a rink in the football stadium - the NHL will take care of that and the WHL will simply use it the next day before it is torn down.
Personally, I think the outdoor game concept is getting a little overused already but it's still fun to see the WHL get involved. I'm sure many of the players in the league played on frozen ponds or outdoor community rinks when they were growing up so there's a connection there. But perhaps the outdoor game idea can be put to bed in the near future....it's not going to be interesting that much longer.
Now, we hope for a good -30C prairie winter day for the NHL game, followed by a nice Calgary chinook to warm things up to a pleasant -5 or so, or even 0 for the WHL game the next day.....
One other bit of WHL news to pass along, this one from the Tri-City Americans. Defenceman Eric Mestery has decided to retire from hockey rather than play next season as an overager. Mestery's decision will reduce the players competing for overage spots on the Americans down to probably four.
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