DALLAS, TX – Thirty years ago, the thought of having a high profile match on ice in Dallas was unheard of in the world of sports. With no high level ice hockey any closer than St. Louis, the suggestion would have likely been considered a gimmick of sorts to garner attention. Ice and Dallas in the same sentence surely must have meant how someone might order a drink in the warm climate of the Lone Star state.
But reality has set in and the stage is set for New Year’s Day at the historic Cotton Bowl Stadium for the 2020 Winter Classic. Events leading up to and taking place around the first day of the calendar year are planned.
The Dallas Stars host the Nashville Predators in the NHL’s latest rendition of the highest profile hockey game of the year, the first appearance in an outdoor game for each club.
The event garners the league’s best regular season ratings and focuses the spotlight on the elements in an unconventional setting, one in which the forecast of air temperature and precipitation are more highly sought than the announced line-up for the two clubs.
The experience will be enjoyed by what could reach a sell-out crowd of 83,000 fans. Last year’s Winter Classic at historic Notre Dame Stadium between the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins entertained more than 76,000 people, remarkable considering it was played two hours east of Chicago.
This year’s event should end up as the second best-attended outdoor game in NHL history, just behind the 105,491 who enjoyed the snow globe effect of Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan when the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Detroit Red Wings in a shootout, 3-2.
At stake this year is the opportunity for both teams to catch fire at a key juncture of the season. As rivals in the NHL’s strongest division, the Dallas Stars and Nashville Predators have struggled to gain traction through the first half of the campaign.
Dallas came off a second round, double-overtime, seven-game series loss to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Blues in June. Poised to continue where they left off and looking for scoring punch by adding veteran forwards Corey Perry (Anaheim) and Jim Pavelski (San Jose), the Stars struggled through the early oart of the season with a dreadful 1-7-1 record.
The club then rattled off a 7-1-0 record in their next eight tilts and then went 17-4-2 in their next twenty-three games. Then, in early December, with things back on track and an 18-11-3 overall record, they sacked their coach, Jim Montgomery, for a “unprofessional conduct inconsistent with the core values and beliefs of the Dallas Stars and the National Hockey League.”’
Dallas elevated Rich Bowness from assistant to interim head coach and lead the charge. The longtime assistant has the Stars at 20-13-4, good for third place in the division, six points off the pace and having played one more game than 1st place St. Louis. The team is 3-2-1 since Bowness’ promotion.
Nashville has been one of the league’s biggest disappointments this year, having long-since struggled to make an impact since their six-game loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2017 Stanley Cup Final. They lost in the second round in seven games to the Winnipeg Jets during the 2018 playoffs and were dispatched this past April in a first-round loss to these Dallas Stars in six games.
Injuries and poor goaltending have severely hurt the club and they sit at 16-12-6, 12 points off the pace with two games in hand and a 6th place position in the division.
But on the day of the Winter Classic, it’s all about that day and should be a spectacular show of hockey and pageantry at historic Cotton Bowl Stadium.
Dennis Morrell has a lengthy background in the great game as a hockey writer, photographer, goalie coach, player and currently active USA Hockey-certified referee with over 1,000 games in his striped jersey. His passion for the game began in the early 70s with his first glance at skaters in Clayton’s Shaw Park. He can be reached at dennis.morrell@prohockeynews.com and you can follow him on Twitter at @DMMORRELL.
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