Columbus, OH – Each NHL outdoor game comes with plenty of elements which make it unique to the venue, city and audience. Whether it is the hosting facility, the field stage or the uniforms, everything is largely different than the experience enjoyed at a standard game at an NHL arena.
Ohio’s NHL franchise will be playing in their first outdoor game, the 43rd of the modern area and the 16th under the Stadium Series banner. With the Blue Jackets participating in an outdoor game, it just leaves Florida, participating in the 2026 Winter Classic next season, and the Utah Hockey Club as the only franchise who have not participated in a game out in the Winter elements.
This year’s Stadium Series is unique all to its own, leveraging the Michigan/Ohio rivalry largely represented in college football. The two fan bases have, let’s call it, a hatred for each other.
The Big House in Ann Arbor. Michigan, the football Wolverines home, hosted their outdoor game, a Winter Classic, in 2014 when the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Detroit Red Wings in shootout 3-2. It serves as the largest crowd to ever witness an NHL game.
Saturday’s game will fall short, but not by much. Jeff Day, Senior Director, Event Communications & Player Development for the NHL, told me this year’s event will have 10,000 “seat kills” which is a term used to describe seats taken out of service to support the outdoor experience. It renders the seats “unsellable” as the space is repurposed to support entertainment elements, camera platforms and other support to put on the unique experience.
The 2014 Winter Classic had fewer of these elements which speaks to how the outdoor games have evolved with enhancements in the experience. For a game at Ohio Stadium which first hosted football in October of 1922, the record attendance was set November 26, 2016 when the Buckeyes bested Michigan in overtime 30-27 and was witnessed by a crowd of 110,045. Capacity is officially noted as 102,780.
Saturday’s NHL game will reach greater than 90,000, safely achieving what will be 2nd place in the ranking of the largest crowd to witness a single NHL game.
Ces as the backdrop for this highly anticipated event and the city is abuzz. Even the Ohio State Hockey team is hosting the Michigan Wolverines in men’s college hockey with a doubleheader, the Buckeyes taking an early lead in game one of this weekend tilt.
While Historic Ohio Stadium is reason enough to get excited about a place to watch outdoor hockey from, the team uniforms for this game are truly unique and well thought out in their design intentions.
The home team pays tribute to the rich history of Ohio and Columbus. Inspired by the uniforms worn by the Union Army, the jersey features several militaryesque details which include:
• A chevron sleeve stripe denoting the rank insignia of the era.
• Shoulder patch featuring a modern “CBJ” mark surrounding two crossed hockey sticks an days homage to the unit designation pins worn on the front of soldier’s slouch caps.
• A front crest featuring “The Cannon,” originally derived from the Blue Jackets alternate logo and a key focal point of any Columbus Blue Jackets home game when the home teams scores a goal. The cannon is filled in with new metallic silver and red accents.
Additional design elements honor the Blue Jackets’ home state, much like the defunct NHL Cleveland Barons used to do during their two-year history from 1976-78.
Captain and Alternate Captain designation letters are displayed within a state of Ohio-shaped patch, while the inside back neck includes “Columbus Blue Jackets” wordmark in conjunction with a buckeye leaf pattern, the state tree of Ohio.
The uniform is completed with the star from the team’s primary logo on the pants and a helmet design that features an oversized metallic application team logo and player number.
Meanwhile, the visiting Detroit Red Wings uniforms celebrate the world-renowned automotive industry and hockey culture of Detroit. The design incorporates several auto-inspired elements and includes:
• A front crest with a bold new custom “Detroit” script wordmark inspired by automotive insignias.
• Laser-perforated details in the wordmark and back numbers, visually consistent with a car’s upholstered leather interior, are prominent.
• Debossed speed stripes on the sleeves and socks reminiscent of racing car aesthetics.
• A helmet design that features a racing stripe and oversized winged wheel on each side of the player helmet with metallic flake finish inspired by automotive paint.
Detroit’s uniforms also include special touches to the team’s history, including a hem loop label featuring the honorary team mascot, and pants containing the wordmark of the popular “Hockeytown” hometown slogan. The primary logo of the Red Wings is placed on the left shoulder of the uniform.
Both uniforms include the “2025 NHL Stadium Series” designation on the inside back hem as a commemorative touch to this marquee matchup. The Stadium Series event crest is affixed to the right shoulder location.
Stay tuned to the latest news in this fantastic Winter event over the next few days. The build-up continues.
Dennis Morrell has developed a deeply rooted passion for our game over many decades as a goaltender, writer, photographer, goalie coach, and active Level 3 USA Hockey-certified, on-ice official with over 2,500 games with the whistle. His passion for the game began in the early 70s upon his first glance at players battling for the puck at Clayton’s Shaw Park.
And yes, the ice is perfect.
He has been fortunate to journalistically cover 2 NHL Entry Drafts, 5 NHL All-Star Games, 8 NHL Outdoor Games in two countries and 25 games played in the context of 10 Stanley Cup Final series, witnessing the oldest trophy in sports lifted by the champion 4 times, including when his beloved hometown team, the St. Louis Blues, won their first chalice in 2019.
He has witnessed over 1,000 major and minor professional games in over 250 different arenas. He can be reached at dennis.morrell@prohockeynews.com and you can follow him on Twitter at DMMORRELL.
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