It’s also why, with nearly two weeks until the game, King and Andrew Higgins, the NHL’s senior director of facilities operations, haven’t yet started obsessing over the forecast. They will start doing this about 2-3 days before the first workouts. Right now, it’s about 60 degrees Fahrenheit at puck drop time, which is “pretty much perfect for us, it’s the same kind of conditions we have at our venues,” Higgins said.
But if that’s not the case, what if it’s actually warmer?
“It just means our trucks will have to work a little harder,” Higgins said, noting that heavy, warm rain is actually the only weather that could prove really difficult to get around.
The trucks will be ready. The players will be too.
Hedman knows outdoor hockey well. Not only did the Lightning play in the Stadium Series against the Nashville Predators on February 26, 2022, but it was an integral part of his childhood in Sweden, with a rink near his home, where he spent his after-school hours, his weekends, his time with his friends.
It was hockey as he knew it at home.
But he didn’t really expect it to come to Tampa.
“Early in my career, no,” Hedman said. “But as things progressed and we saw it in (Los Angeles), we knew there was a possibility. But a lot of credit goes to the Lightning organization for supporting and wanting to have this, and obviously to the NHL for rewarding us to host a game here.”
The Lightning are ready for the experience, ready for Gasparilla the Friday and Saturday before, ready to hit the rink for warmups – their arrival outfits are “all set,” as Hedman put it – ready to see the atmosphere and everything that comes with the show.
“I think everyone is really, really excited about the whole experience,” Hedman said. “Obviously the main goal of the game is still to get two points, but the whole experience is going to be super, super cool.”
