"It was a little different than a normal game," said Casey Mittlestadt, who quickly lived up to the hype as the Sabres top pick in last year's NHL Draft.
The wait proved to be well worth it as the United States and Canada once again locked up in an epic clash that will go down in the hockey history books. And certainly not the announced record crowd that endured long lines at the Peace Bridge linking Ontario to New York and at the gates into New Era Field. Not the organizers, who held their collective breaths up until the puck drop. Not the players or their wide-eyed coach. Not that the elements this year bothered anyone. It paved the way for the NHL Winter Classic to become an annual event, and triggered offshoot events from Toronto to Los Angeles. 1, 2008, as the falling snow created a snow globe effect, a crowd of more than 71,000 watched the Pittsburgh Penguins edge the hometown Sabres. We're going to have fun with it."īut the one thing Buffalo natives know all too well, those pesky lake-effect snows can appear at a moment's notice and throw a snowy curveball on outdoor activities.Īlmost 10 years ago to the day, another outdoor hockey game was staged in snowy conditions and on the same field, and it forever changed the landscape of the game at home and around the world. "When I was a kid 'perfect conditions' meant just putting your skates on and play. National Junior Team for the second consecutive year. "I keep hearing the words 'perfect conditions for an outdoor game,'" said the Austin, Minn., native who was coaching the U.S. But on the last Friday of 2017 the stars and stripes fell limp, indicating that it would be a great day for hockey at New Era Field. In the days leading up to the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship, the flag stiffly flew in the arctic air that blew across Lake Erie and plunged the city into a deep freeze. Looking across the street at the Buffalo Naval & Military Park, Motzko could tell what the day would hold in store, weather wise, by how the ensign flew from the flagstaff of the USS Little Rock that is permanently docked there.
Bob Motzko peered out the window of his Buffalo hotel room and liked what he saw.
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