IGT: Hawks at Blues 1/2 Winter Classic

[LordKOTL]

Exactly, it was great and special and a sight to behold when it was at Wrigley against a then conference opponent of Detroit... If I remember correctly we still got stomped but they at least looked to have fun doing it. Now it's just an over saturated made for TV mess that no one really care about. I might have even ended up watching more of the alumni game than this one... (that was mostly circumstances though). They have at least 2 of these a year now now right? And they've run out of gimmicks... I'd love to see them do one outdoors in Florida or phoenix. California, something... haha.

I could see them doing all 3 outdoor ones in a year...and all of them playing the 'hawks.

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[MassHavoc]

I could see them doing all 3 outdoor ones in a year...and all of them playing the 'hawks.

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I could see them doing a split squad preseason Hawks vs. Hawks outdoor game.

 

[clonetrooper264]

I couldn't watch the alumni game but I saw a tweet that said Kyle Calder set up Eric Daze for a goal (or perhaps the other way around) and the 14-year-old in me went crazy. Loved those guys, even if the Hawks teams they played on were largely terrible.

And, c'mon: it is kinda ridiculous that a Blues alumni game includes guys that played half a season or less with the franchise. Next time the Hawks should trot out Paul Coffey and Bobby Orr! For my money, though, the most ridiculous presence at that game was Chris Pronger, considering he's still on LTIR with the Arizona Coyotes in the most blatant exploitation of the salary cap I've seen in a while.

Also, please, for the love of ****, get some new teams in these games. The Blues (and Busch Stadium) were great choices. But the Hawks don't need to do these games next year. There are plenty of other teams and other venues that should be explored.

Pronger was in this game? Goodness that's an atrocity :aj:

 

[Ares]

Exactly, it was great and special and a sight to behold when it was at Wrigley against a then conference opponent of Detroit... If I remember correctly we still got stomped but they at least looked to have fun doing it. Now it's just an over saturated made for TV mess that no one really care about. I might have even ended up watching more of the alumni game than this one... (that was mostly circumstances though). They have at least 2 of these a year now now right? And they've run out of gimmicks... I'd love to see them do one outdoors in Florida or phoenix. California, something... haha.

They should play one on a literal frozen pond up in Canada....

I mean the ratings thing is logical... but then what about the Kings, Rangers, Ducks, Sharks, Canucks? Are these not also some big draws? Why are they not required to play villain in some of these?

 

[DMelt36]

Soldier Field was the last outdoor game for the Hawks worth remembering because A) It's Soldier Field and B) The snow was just perfect and C) The Hawks won.

I think we all understand that the Hawks keep going in because of the ratings draw, but I think the league should start getting more creative with the venues. The idea above about playing the game on a literal frozen pond would be cool, but that could make things a lot trickier from a logistics/financial standpoint.

I'd start looking at football stadiums. In particular: that new Cowboys stadium would be real cool. Although it may be hard to get football teams to offer up their stadiums on January 1st or 2nd because many of those teams intend to be playing home games around that time of year. But there have to be some places worth checking out, right? I don't think they've used the new Yankee Stadium yet (make it an Islanders/Rangers inter-city rivalry). Let Columbus play at the Buckeyes' stadium, whatever it's called. Perhaps you can get one of the Florida teams to play at one of the famed SEC stadiums down there.

The NHL and creative thinking haven't always been synonymous, though.

 

[DMelt36]

I could see them doing a split squad preseason Hawks vs. Hawks outdoor game.

Hawks/Ice Hogs at the outdoor rink in Mt. Greenwood. Who says no?