Someone tell Happy Gilmore to lace up his skates.
The NHL announced Monday it will hold two games on an outdoor rink set up at Edgewood-Tahoe Golf Course in Stateline, Nevada.
It is the latest outdoor NHL games played in unique settings, following in the footsteps of temporary rinks set up at Green Bay’s Lambeau Field, Boston’s Fenway Park, New York’s Yankee Stadium and Chicago’s Soldier Field, just to name a few.
This year’s setting is along the shores of Lake Tahoe at a rink set up on the 18th hole at Edgewood, home of the annual American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament.
“We were looking for a picturesque, magnificent place with a lake and mountains that are snow covered,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “Lake Tahoe fit the bill and we’re thrilled to be going there.”
Vegas will play Colorado on Feb. 20 and Boston faces Philadelphia on Feb. 21. No fans will be allowed to attend due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The NHL has been conducting outdoor games since 2003 and the two in the NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe event will be the 31st and 32nd in the series.
“We went to Tahoe, a very small group, and we were blown away by the setting, the blank canvas that it presents for us,” NHL chief content producer Steve Mayer said. “It’s hosted major events before. We felt very confident, especially in a short time frame, that we would be able to hold a world-class event and Tahoe will a great host. It was a pretty easy decision.”
