DENVER – When the National Hockey League announced earlier this year that Denver was going to host an outdoor game, the city was all abuzz. Fans, even local residents who don’t follow hockey, became excited over the idea of hosting such a unique sporting event.
Fans from all over the state, and even some from out of state, gathered outside of Coors Field before the Alumni Game on Friday. A few loyal fans were even caught enjoying festivities while they were still being set up. They were kindly asked to return once everything had opened.
Every fan who came to hang out along Blake Street had the same look of excitement written across their face. Whether they were wearing Avalanche apparel, or if they were living dangerously in enemy territory, each fan was glowing with anticipation.
Josh, a Michigan native, brought his family from Houston came to Colorado and made it into a weeklong vacation for the family. Josh had brought his wife and his two kids to the game. “We’re hoping for a Red Wings win. And for these two to stay awake.”
Not only is this game good for the city of Denver, the outlying communities are also benefiting from the draw to the Mile High City. Josh and his family gave up their tickets to the Alumni Game to “play in the snow out in the mountains”. Josh says his kids, who were born and raised in Houston have never seen snow. Both kids shyly nodded that they had fun in the snow.
Avalanche fan, Vince, said his standing room tickets were well worth the purchase, especially since he got to attend the Alumni Game on Friday night. “It was great to see all of those players,” Vince said, “They were all really great.”
When asked about the rivalry between these two clubs, Vince just said “I think it will always be there for the older fans. But for the next generation of fans, it will most likely be the Wild.”
A little bit of that old rivalry showed itself late in the first period when Pavel Datsyuk and Gabriel Landeskog got into it in the Avalanche end late in the first period. Datsyuk was called for roughing and Landeskog was called for holding the stick. This was far from a repeat of “Bloody Wednesday”, but it did get the fans excited.
Good weather welcomed the sell out crowd of 50,095. At the time the puck was dropped the temperature was 65 degrees, which set the record for warmest outdoor game ever played in the NHL. Yes, even warmer than the Los Angeles game played in Dodger’s Stadium which was 62 degrees when that game started.
The weather stayed nice until the last period, when the winds kicked up and even started throwing the fake snow into the stands. Even this was not enough to get the fans down. Some were seen jumping up to grab a piece of cotton that was blown off of the field.
After an uneventful second period, the Red Wings were able to tie the game and eventually take the lead. This set the game up for an exciting finish when Brad Richards scored with one minute left in the game.
Despite the 5-3 loss to their old rival, the Avalanche faithful stuck around to cheer and applaud their home team as they skated to center ice and eventually off the field.
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