Nine months after that game, Craig Leipold took over as owner of the Wild from Bob Naegele Jr. Leipold spent many years expressing his desire to play host to a Winter Classic. 

About to drop the puck on the 2016 Stadium Series game between the Wild and the Chicago Blackhawks at the then TCF Bank Stadium (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman met Leipold halfway when he awarded the Wild a game as part of the Stadium Series that was played on Feb. 21, 2016 at TCF Bank Stadium on the University of Minnesota campus.

The Wild beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 6-1, before an announced crowd of 50,426 on a 35-degree day in an event that drew rave reviews. But it wasn’t what Leipold really wanted. 

That finally will come Saturday as the Wild gets to join the Winter Classic mix by playing the St. Louis Blues at Target Field in downtown Minneapolis. The Twins ballpark will be the seventh baseball stadium in which a Winter Classic will be played. Six football stadiums, including three college football venues, have housed the game.

There were many who expected Leipold and the Wild would get their Winter Classic wish after Zach Parise and Ryan Suter signed matching 13-year, $98 million free agent contracts on July 4, 2012. That would have happened if this game had been played as scheduled on Jan. 1, 2021 but the pandemic caused it to be moved back and Parise and Suter were bought out of their contracts last summer. 

The Wild’s marquee attraction now is dynamic winger Kirill Kaprizov, who already has established himself as the most talented player in franchise history.

“Craig always wanted the Winter Classic,” Bettman told reporters last September in announcing this game would be played in 2022. “Even though we did (the Stadium Series game in 2016), he wanted to save this place for the Winter Classic. I thought we’d placate him for a few years with the Stadium Series game, but I remember him saying to me at that game, ‘This is great, I love it, we’re having a great time, but when am I getting the Winter Classic?’

“He has been relentless, and I mean that in the best possible way, because he is so passionate about this team and about this community, and he’s so competitive. This is what he always envisioned and wanted, and he wasn’t going to give up until he got it.”

Leipold deserves credit for his persistence. He also deserves credit for knowing the Winter Classic is the NHL’s only real marquee event played outdoors. Everything else, at least in the U.S., is a knockoff. The Winter Classic wasn’t the NHL’s first outdoor game — that came in November 2003 when the Oilers played the Canadiens in the Heritage Classic before 57,176 at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman at a Target Field press conference in September discussing Wild owner Craig Leipold’s persistence in landing a Winter Classic for Minnesota.

But the Winter Classic connected with an audience that wasn’t just hockey fans. It connected with sports fans who were looking for something different and also served as a perfect made-for-television event. Playing hockey in a baseball or football stadium doesn’t provide a lot of great views, but sitting on the couch and watching the snow fly, with a bunch of professional athletes trying to stay warm but still having a great time as they relive their childhoods, takes everyone back to a simpler time.

While there is a nostalgic element to watching the Winter Classic, there also was the NHL’s greed factor in realizing it had stumbled on something that could prove to be a money-making hit. 

Thus, the Stadium Series was born in 2014 with a game held in Dodger Stadium, two played at Yankee Stadium and another at Soldier Field. The Detroit Red Wings played host to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Michigan Stadium in the Winter Classic, and the Canucks played the Senators at BC Place in the Heritage Classic to bring the total of games played in stadiums to six that season.

Talk about diluting the product.

The NHL hasn’t played multiple Stadium Series games since 2016 — the Nashville Predators will play host to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 26 at Nissan Stadium — although they did play a pair of games last February on the south shore of Lake Tahoe with no fans in attendance.

That was just the latest sign the NHL wants to experiment with holding games at different venues in an attempt to attract viewers. ESPN and TNT, which have replaced NBC as the league’s television partner(s), are likely to continue to push for unique settings in which to showcase the sport.

The most important thing the NHL must remember is what made the Winter Classic special and its marquee event of the regular season. That is the fact it was the only NHL game played outdoors in the U.S. for the first five years it was held.

There is a reason Leipold wanted the Winter Classic and didn’t see the Stadium Series game as a true replacement. Only the Winter Classic is considered truly special. It’s up to Bettman and his associates to make sure they keep it that way.

Preparations for the Winter Classic in progress at Target Field on Monday, Dec. 27, 2021. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

The post Accept No Imitations appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

As Minnesota Wild Owner & Governor Craig Leipold acknowledged, however, the climate will be vastly different when they all reconvene in The State of Hockey on Jan. 1 to watch the Wild host the St Louis Blues  in the 13th NHL Winter Classic. 

“What we’re going to remember on Jan. 1 is that we sat out here in the hot sun with sunglasses on and now it’s probably going to be zero degrees,” Leipold said. “It’ll be surreal.”

The game will be the 33rd NHL regular-season outdoor game, and the first of three NHL regular-season outdoor games scheduled for the 2021-22 season, which will all be televised on TNT, Sportsnet and TVA Sports. The game’s 6:00 p.m. scheduled start time guarantees the sun will not be a factor as it has often been in previous outdoor games.

Leipold was joined on Target Field’s playing surface by newly-anointed Wild alternate captains Matt Dumba and Marcus Foligno, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Wild President & Alternate Governor Matt Majka, Wild General Manager Bill Guerin, St. Louis Blues Owner & Governor Tom Stillman, St. Louis President & Alternate Governor Chris Zimmerman, Minnesota Twins Owner and Executive Chair Jim Pohlad, Twins President & CEO Dave St. Peter, Discover Chief Marketing Officer Kate Manfred, NHLPA Special Assistant to the Executive Director Mathieu Schneider, and TNT play-by-play announcer Kenny Albert.

Bettman opened his remarks referring to Target Field as “magnificent.”

“When I think ahead three months to New Year’s Day, I have no doubt that we will transform this magnificent stadium into something that will not be recognizable for baseball, but certainly will be for hockey,” Bettman said.

By the end of this season, Bettman said, the league will have played outdoor games in 20 states or provinces and the District of Columbia but added, “No place will have and has a more passionate connection to outdoor hockey than the state of Minnesota.”

The Winter Classic will be Minnesota’s second outdoor game, and second at home. The Wild hosted Chicago in a Feb. 2016 NHL Stadium Series game at what was then known as TCF Bank Stadium (now Huntington Bank Stadium). The Blues will be making their second outdoor game appearance, and second as a Winter Classic participant, having hosted the 2017 contest at Busch Stadium. St. Louis also bested the Blackhawks in its inaugural outdoor game with a 4-1 win over Chicago.

Despite the success of the Stadium Series, Bettman said Leipold always wanted to bring the Winter Classic to Target Field, a pursuit by Leiopold termed relentless by the commissioner, in the best possible way.

“I thought maybe we’d placate him for a few years with the Stadium Series game,” Bettman said. “But I remember, at that game, he said to me, ‘Okay, this is great, I love it, we’re having a great time. When am I getting the Winter Classic?’”

Dumba, who scored the game’s first goal to launch the Wild to a 6-1 win over the Blackhawks that day, said what he drew from his outdoor game experience is the need for a healthy balance of enjoying it all but also staying dialed in and focused.

“Get those two points that night and then you can, you know, have some fun with the family and friends, everyone who’s town, especially on New Year’s,” Dumba said. “I think that’s going to be the kind of thing we’re preaching, is that if we put in the work and stay dialed in then you’re going to reap the rewards from it and just be able to have that whole experience.

“I know when you win that game it’s a lot better than when you lose it. I’ve only won so I want to keep that streak going.”

Tickets to the 2022 Discover NHL Winter Classic go on sale Wednesday, Sept. 29 at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. CT via Ticketmaster and are available on a first-come, first-served basis, while supplies last.

The post Target Field’s Moment In The Sun appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

MINNEAPOLIS — Outdoor professional hockey is coming to Minnesota.

The National Hockey League announced details on Wednesday of the NHL Stadium Series game to be played between the Minnesota Wild and the Chicago Blackhawks on February 21, 2016 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold, and an assortment of Wild players including Zach Parise were a part of the media event emceed by KARE-11 sports anchor and Minnesota Hockey Magazine columnist Dave Schwartz.

“We are pleased to bring the Coors Light NHL Stadium Series to ‘the State of Hockey’ as a highlight of the Hockey Day in America triple-header on NBC and NBCSN and as part of USA Hockey’s national celebration of our sport, Hockey Weekend Across America,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “With so much great hockey having been played on the University of Minnesota campus, TCF Bank Stadium will serve as an ideal setting for this outdoor renewal of the Wild-Blackhawks rivalry.”

This will be TCF Bank Stadium’s second time hosting an outdoor hockey event. The 2014 Hockey City Classic featured the University of Minnesota women’s and men’s teams battle Minnesota State Mankato and Ohio State respectively. The event drew 45,021 fans to the event and remains the largest crowd to witness a hockey game in Minnesota.

An alumni game will be played the day before February 20 with former Wild and Minnesota North Stars players battling past Chicago Blackhawks greats. Neal Broten, Mike Modano, Andrew Brunette, Brad Bombardir and more will represent the North Stars/Wild. Former North Stars teammates Lou Nanne and Tom Reid will coach the team.

Team Chicago will feature Blackhawks alums such as Eddie Olcyzk, Ed Belfour, Denis Savard, and Jeremy Roenick. The team will be coached by Tony Esposito and Pat Foley.

Complete alumni game rosters are available below.

Priority access for tickets will be given to Minnesota Wild, Chicago Blackhawks, and University of Minnesota football season-ticket holders. Information will be sent to those holders in the coming days while any general public ticket availability information will be released at a later date.

The post Stadium Series details announced appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.