Winnipeg Jets<\/a> (Sportsnet, Sportsnet+, 7 p.m. ET \/ 6 p.m. CT) will be Guhle\u2019s first NHL open-air experience, and despite the uniqueness of playing under the bright lights, and in front of more than 30,000 fans expected at Princess Auto Stadium, it\u2019ll be a callback to when he first fell in love with the game, to when it was about nothing more than fun with friends.<\/p>\nOnly this time, no extra layers will be required, with the forecast calling for clear skies and a temperature of 3 C at puck drop.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s perfect,\u201d said Oliver Kapanen, who played outdoor hockey every day after school in Timra, Finland, but has also never experienced anything like what he\u2019ll live through on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Chris Kreider already has done it several times, so you can excuse him for not being as enthusiastic about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s only enjoyable if you win,\u201d said the 35-year-old, who has a 3-0 record in outdoor NHL games but was on the wrong side of one in college, in his hometown, at Fenway Park, where he was first in awe of stepping foot in the Boston Red Sox room and then ultimately miserable sitting there after a loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a dog and pony show, and if you lose it\u2019s even more of a letdown,\u201d Kreider added. \u201cTwo points, important to win a hockey game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phil Danault would love nothing more than for his Canadiens to beat the Jets after he lost with them to the Ottawa Senators in the NHL 100 Classic in 2017 at TD Place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lost another 6-1 to Minnesota when I was in my second season with Chicago, too,\u201d said Danault, \u201cso I\u2019m due.\u201d<\/p>\n
It would be particularly meaningful for Danault to win this one in front of his wife, son and in-laws, and he said he can\u2019t wait to play for that very reason.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still such a unique thing to do,\u201d the Victoriaville, Que., native said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a kid, you play outdoors for fun, but you never think of having this kind of experience outside. It\u2019s always memorable. You want to keep everything \u2014 from the jersey you play in to the pants and gloves \u2014 and it\u2019s always something you\u2019ll remember.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was outside every day. My dad built a rink at my house. Not a rink, but a little ice surface. Started there, and I was all over the rinks in Quebec. I was always outside. I always chose to play outside at night rather than watch Canadiens games. That\u2019s where you build that love, and a game like this really brings it back even if you never fully lost it at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mike Matheson, who grew up in area of Montreal where there\u2019s an abundance of outdoor rinks, has always cherished the game, and he\u2019s relishing this opportunity to play it on this stage for the very first time.<\/p>\n
Just thinking about it brought memories of outdoor hockey rushing back to the 32-year-old.<\/p>\n
When asked about his rink of choice as a kid, Matheson, a native of Pointe-Claire, Que., said, \u201cWhichever one had the best ice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter school, you\u2019d drive around home and see which ones were good,\u201d Matheson continued. \u201cWe had Clearpoint right down the street from us, we had my backyard sometimes. We had a group of family (and) friends around the neighbourhood, and we\u2019d go on one until it was too snowy, and then we\u2019d all jump in our friend\u2019s pickup truck and he\u2019d drive us to the next in full equipment. We\u2019d play on that one until it got too snowy and go on to the next. We went all over the place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s when I fell in love with the process, too. There\u2019s a lot of kids that I grew up with that would for sure get out on the ice and play games, but if nobody else was going, they weren\u2019t going. I\u2019d go on our backyard rink and setup drills for myself and work on things, and I loved that just as much as I did playing games, so I think that\u2019s where I kind of realized I\u2019ve got a good work ethic and if I really commit to that I think I could get somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now Matheson is here, with his parents, his hockey-playing wife, Emily, who won Olympic gold with Team USA at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, and his three children, Hudson, Mila and Miles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I see it through their eyes, so that\u2019s the part that I\u2019m most excited about,\u201d said Matheson. \u201cAfter our practice, having them come out, my son being on the ice, my daughter is just starting to stand and walk on her skates on the ice, and so that\u2019s all just so exciting. Sharing that moment with them and my parents, those are the memories. I really want to win the game for sure, but those are the things that will stick with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the experience Josh Anderson is soaking in, along with his wife, daughter and 12 other members of his family in attendance.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re among close to 150 people the Canadiens flew to Winnipeg and accommodated for what they expect will be one of the most memorable experiences imaginable.<\/p>\n
Coach Martin St. Louis said his players should soak that up in its entirety before giving it their all to win the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy favourite people are the people that are 100-percenters,\u201d he started. \u201cIn anything you do in life, you\u2019re only going to be the best if you give it 100 per cent. You want to be a good dad? It\u2019s not about being 100 per cent present, but when you\u2019re present you have to be 100 per cent there. So for me, they\u2019re with their family, be 100 per cent there. They\u2019re here, they\u2019re taking the time \u2014 enjoy that. We\u2019re going to play tomorrow, find the pockets that you can enjoy the family and be with them. This is great. These people are a big part of their lives, they\u2019re supportive. Being a wife, a dad, a mom, whatever it is, a kid from a professional athlete, it comes at a price.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when the game starts, you\u2019ve got to be 100 per cent there\u2026 You want to find any success in life, be a 100-percenter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The conditions are shaping up optimally to squeeze everything possible out of the experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIdeal weather,\u201d said Guhle. \u201cCan\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINNIPEG \u2014 Outdoor hockey in Winnipeg, mercifully in October rather than December or January. \u201cI\u2019m thankful for that,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":945859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-945858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=945858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/945859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=945858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=945858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}