Hamilton’s AHL Outdoor Classic: Cold but Worth it!

Steven Ellis

13 years ago

OAKVILLE, ON. – If you have ever been to an outdoor game, you know what it’s like. The atmosphere is unreal, there are a ton of people, and oh ya, its somewhat cold.

I was lucky enough to attend the 2012 AHL Outdoor Classic on Saturday, between the Hamilton Bulldogs and Toronto Marlies. With game-time temperatures at minus-4 Celsius (it felt more like minus-12 on the side with the shade), the hometown Bulldogs got on the board just 27 seconds into the contest on a goal by Dany Masse. But the Marlies answered three times before the end of the first period, carried a 4-2 lead into the third and scored three late goals to seal the victory.

Here’s my thoughts on the game.

Nathan Lawson played terrible. No question about it. Lawson, who just returned from a concussion suffered on January 6 against Syracuse, was shelled for three goals in the first, one in the second, and three more in the last four minutes of the third period. Lawson let in seven goals on 27 shots, and admitted he was fighting with the elements.

“It was really tough… there were a lot of shadows out there. If guys would pull the puck in it would go right into their own shadow,” Lawson said. “It was challenging.”

The big question: why did head coach Clement Jodoin put Lawson in net? He had been out for an extended period of time with a concussion, something that isn’t easy to return from, on the biggest stage the team has ever played on? Robert Mayer just came off of a win against the Milwaukee Admirals on Wednesday, and has been playing well this season.

I have never thought Lawson would make an impact in professional hockey, and after seeing him play very poorly in three losses this season, I don’t think that he will be an NHL starter. When he loses, he doesn’t play well. The lighting and concussion can be blamed for his loss, but the goals he was letting in were very weak. The team was blessed with solid AHL goaltenders in recent years, with Yann Danis, Cedrick Desjardins and Curtis Sanford, but none of the goalies (Lawson, Mayer, Delmas) have a winning record this season. But, hey, who knows, maybe Montreal can pick up Malcom Subban in the draft?

There were many complaints about Sportsnet. While I never heard the TV broadcast of the game, many people were complaining about the main camera angle being too high. The Jumbotron was showing the camera angle, which didn’t look any different than the camera used at New York Rangers games. The big problem at the game was where the play-by-play people were sitting. There was a huge Sportsnet stage close to the boards, blocking the view of one whole zone for everyone (including me) on the back side of the arena. There was about 50 feet of room behind each zone where they could have placed the stage, blocking the view of a grand total of zero people.

It was cold. The announced temperature was minus-4 degrees, but as I said before, it felt way colder. It seemed to get colder as the game went on to the point that four layers was no longer enough. One person sitting near me wore five layers, including two jerseys. Ivor Wynne stadium concessions did sell coffee and hot chocolate, but the portion sizes were extremely small, and you had to spend 15 minutes waiting for a drink that was finished in 15 seconds. The bleachers were frozen with snow on it, so unless you brought a blanket, you were going to freeze your butt off.

The atmosphere was something else. Every time (twice) a Bulldogs player scored, all 20,565 (a new AHL Canadian record) fans stood up, showing a ton of support for the hometown team. I have yet to see an AHL arena louder than Copps Coliseum, but this was a huge upgrade. It wasn`t as loud as the Bell Centre, but that was because the arena wasn’t closed. The atmosphere was so much bigger than any normal NHL game by far.

If you ever get a chance to see an outdoor game, go for it. Its a great experience that you will never forget. Yes, one team clearly dominated, and the setup of the whole game wasn’t great, but it was definitely something else.

Follow me on Twitter, @StevenEllisNHL.