Target Field
Freezing Target Field
On New Year’s Day, sports enthusiasts of all ages and abilities will likely take part in a pastime that’s fervently Minnesotan: playing hockey outdoors. That’s nothing new for the State of Hockey in January, where lakes, ponds, and park rinks consistently fill with beat-up sticks and stinky skates. But this year, the Minnesota Wild will join the pack, playing in the Winter Classic for the very first time, at Target Field against the St. Louis Blues.
Yes, somehow, since the inception of the NHL’s New Year’s Day game in 2008, the Wild have never donned the (pictured) throwback jerseys for—let alone hosted—the outdoor classic. But why? Well, if you ask the Wild, it’s all about timing.
“It’s something we’ve always wanted,” says Maria Troje, the Wild’s VP of sales and service, noting the game was originally supposed to be played here in 2021 and was cancelled due to COVID, but the NHL decided to keep the locale for 2022. “We think our fans deserve it.”
She points to success both with 2016’s Stadium Series—the last time the Wild played a game outdoors, at the Gophers’ Huntington Bank Stadium (then TCF Bank Stadium)—and major sporting events like the Super Bowl and Final Four as reasons the NHL and Wild both knew the game would sell well here.
“There is no question we will fill up an outdoor stadium on January 1st,” she laughs. “Our fans will for sure show up—we embrace the outdoors.”
And embrace it they must. This year is the first that the Winter Classic is scheduled for evening, not midday, meaning fans won’t even have a shred of hope for warm sunlight. But the Wild say nearly everyone will have a good seat. How? With the help of geometry.
“If you picture home plate, and you’re looking out to the outfield standing at home plate, the rink will be horizontal between the first baseline and third baseline,” Troje says. “Third base and first base will be where the nets are.”
Fans who can’t snag a ticket can participate in activities in the NHL’s Fan Zone outside the stadium (the NHL is keeping quiet about what all that’ll entail, but expect hockey-themed surprises and an outdoor celebration) or catch the game on TV. As of now, the Winter Classic is expected to continue as planned despite concerns about the rapidly spreading COVID-19 omicron variant.
By the Numbers
- 40,000: Approximate capacity of Target Field—close to double that of the Xcel Energy Center
- -6 Degrees, -25 Windchill: Temperature of the coldest outdoor game a Minnesota pro sports team has ever played (Vikings vs. Seahawks in 2016)
- 17.6 Degrees: Average temperature for New Year’s Day in Minneapolis
- 6-1: Score of 2016’s Stadium Series, in which the Wild absolutely walloped the Blackhawks in Minnesota’s last pro outdoor hockey game
- 85: Number of times the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues have played each other in regular season games (and twice in the Stanley Cup playoffs)
- 15: Number of teams that have played in the Classic, counting this year
- 1 month: Time it will take to transform Target Field into a hockey rink
