Colorado Avalanche: Air Force Academy Getting Ready for Outdoor Game

The Colorado Avalanche may be in the middle of their five-game road trip, but Falcon Stadium is getting ready to host their Stadium Series game.

The Colorado Avalanche are set to play in their second-ever Stadium Series game in just 12 days. Falcon Stadium at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs will be transformed into an outdoor rink.

Correction: It’s already starting to be transformed. The long process of building an ice rink on an outdoor field has begun.

When the Avalanche played in their first-ever outdoor game four years ago, I chronicled what goes into making that ice rink:

Well, according to the Avalanche’s Twitter, the build has started:

The social media team and some members of the Avs family headed down to Falcon Stadium on a cold, snowy day in Colorado. John Mitchell, Jan Hejda, and Rick Berry are all former Avalanche players who still live in the Denver area.

The trio started out by touring the locker room:

The official Air Force Academy Twitter then went on to ask what they thought of the lockers and for obvious reasons! Those are some sharp lockers!

In fact, Longhorn Lockers created them. The lockers offer a unique profile of stainless steel. A key attraction are the ventilated cubbies below the bench seats where the football players can stash their sneakers — or the Avs players can place their skates.

Well, I’m not sure if they’ll do that. Players usually hang their skates from poles above the bench seat, possibly to protect their blades. Anyway, it’s still a cool feature.

Behind the padded back of the bench is the hanging area for the uniforms. Above that is a lighted cubby for their helmets and a side cubby with a charging station. Above that cubby is an enclosed cabinet for padding.

Here’s a video that goes through it all:

Ok, the cubby for the padding is pretty high up. How is little Sam Girard going to reach all the way up there? Well, I guess he’ll have to ask 6-foot-4 mon chum, Erik Johnson, for assistance.

Anyway, here’s how the setup might look:

The three alumni also got to check out the mechanics of the whole operation, the mobile ice trucks:

I like how the sides of the trucks feature images of outdoor arenas.

The players are all very excited about the chance to play on an outdoor arena. John Mitchell, who played in the Stadium Series game for the Colorado Avalanche, talked about the experience:

A lot of players have said it reminds them of when they’d play on local rinks as kids growing up in cold climates. (That hasn’t come out of Long Beach Native Matthew Nieto’s face, obviously.)

Cale Makar played in an outdoor game — the first-ever outdoor game for the IIHF World Junior Championship. Makar also toured Falcon Field during the summer. He said of the upcoming Stadium Series game:

"“I think the stadium is set up well for every fan to have a good eye on the game. You’re not going to be too far away from the play. It can be different in some NFL fields, especially in Buffalo. Fans are so far away, so it’s tough to see things. But for us, it’s a little bit of a smaller stadium. It’s going to be awesome, and I think it’ll be a little more intimate and really fun experience for everyone there.”"

Tyson Jost was also part of that caravan tour, which we chronicled here:

Jost has expressed numerous times how excited he is for the outdoor game. In fact, he participated in an episode of Odd Man Rush with Kyle Keefe and Connor McGahey. During that time, he expressed the following wishes:

"“I hope it’s snowing a little bit and you’ve got the little flakes coming in, a little chilly — that’d be awesome.”"

That would be scenic. It also reminds me that I have to buy some long underwear.

The Colorado Avalanche’s Stadium Series game takes place on February 15. There are still tickets available, and information about parking passes ($20) is being emailed to ticket holders. If you purchased the commemorative ticket, it should have already come in the mail. Otherwise you might have to pick it up at will call.

It’s going to be an exciting game! We’ll keep you posted with more details as they come up.