Colorado Avalanche: Stadium Series Provoking Excitement

The Colorado Avalanche are generating excitement with more than just their hot play. They also have an upcoming outdoor game.

The Colorado Avalanche have gotten off to a hot start this season. After five games, they were the only perfect team left in the league. They lost in overtime yesterday, so they remain unbeaten in regulation.

But that’s not the only reason to be excited – in just 4 short months, the Avalanche will take hockey outdoors, to face the LA Kings at Falcon Stadium. This stadium is the home of the US Air Force Falcons and on the 15th of February 2020, it will be the home of the Avalanche for a day.

NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman has been wheeling out the PR machine, especially since tickets for the game went on sale last Friday via Ticketmaster. “We are really looking forward to honoring the history and the traditions of this outstanding academy.”

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Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, CO has a capacity of 46,692. It is the football stadium for the US Air Force Academy team, the Falcons. The elevation is 6,621 feet, about a mile and a quarter above sea level. An extra quarter mile high will push even the Colorado Avalanche’s best players that little harder, so we can probably expect short shifts and quite a bit of dump and chase.

Bettman is of course banking on better weather than the last outdoor game held in Colorado. Record high temperatures (55 Fahrenheit / 13 Celsius) caused on ice issues with the Avalanche playing the Red Wings in 2016.

During that game, the Avalanche played their only appearance to date in the outdoor hockey world. They lost to the Red Wings 5-3, after fighting to a 2-1 lead at the first intermission. Nathan MacKinnon was the star of the show for the Avalanche, with a goal and an assist, with Captain Gabe Landeskog adding two assists. For Detroit, Tomas Tatar managed a goal and an assist as well.

The Kings played an outdoor game in 2014 at Dodger Stadium, losing 3-0 to the Anaheim Ducks. Their roaster still contains 8 players who played in that game: Forwards Anze Kopitar, Kyle Clifford, Dustin Brown, Jeff Carter and Trevor Lewis; Defensemen Alec Martinez and Drew Doughty; Goaltender Jonathan Quick.

That’s a veteran core and you can bet your bottom dollar that they will want to win their second attempt at an outdoor game.

As for the Avalanche, there have been wholesale changes from the team that played outdoors at Coors Field just 4 years ago. Only three players remain – Landeskog, MacKinnon and Defensemen Erik Johnson. MacK and Landy’s numbers have jumped significantly in the past two seasons, while Johnson has become more of a stay at home D-man in the last couple, due in part to the presence of younger offensive players, such as Sam Girard and now Cale Makar.

“I don’t want to give anything away, but if you’ve seen any of our outdoor events you know they are top-notch productions. Given all that our team has to work with here, we know you won’t be disappointed and we certainly won’t be disappointed with the flyover,” an excited Bettman remarked.

Next. Jost and Makar's PR for Stadium Series. dark

Tickets start at $95 on Ticketmaster. Be sure to wrap up warm if you are going – I’ll be watching the game from north of the border, so won’t be in attendance. I’d rather watch a game that I can still feel my fingers and toes by the end of, but the spectacle of an outdoor hockey game is something I will happily watch on TV.

Will we see an Alumni game as last time around? Who will Rob Blake play for? Well, obviously, the Kings, as he’s their GM, but he played his best hockey with the Colorado Avalanche, right?

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