NHL announces 2017 outdoor series including Winter Classic

The St. Louis Blues will be hosting the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2017 Winter Classic at Busch Stadium, the home of Major League Baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals. This will be the fourth straight year that the Blackhawks will have participated in an outdoor hockey game. The Blues have never participated in an outdoor hockey game and hosting the cornerstone event will be their first outdoor game. 

The Classic will be part of a series of events that celebrate the league’s first major expansion in 1967. The Blackhawks are 1-3 in outdoor games and they recently lost to the Capitals in the 2015 Winter Classic and they got crushed by the Minnesota Wild in the Stadium Series. 

The Stadium Series game was announced for the next year. Bitter rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins will face off at Heinz Field, the home of the National Football League’s Pittsburgh Steelers. Both teams were founded in 1967. “The Flyers and Penguins will continue their long-standing ‘Second Six’ rivalry with this Coors Light NHL Stadium Series game,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “With Heinz Field as the setting and State of Pennsylvania bragging rights on the line, we know the first outdoor meeting of these clubs will add to the long list of great Flyers-Penguins memories as they each celebrate 50 years in the NHL.”

Additional details on the 2017 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series™ - including broadcast and ticketing information, and other events surrounding the game - will be announced in the coming months.

“These intense Stadium Series matchups continue to epitomize everything Coors Light is about: cold, refreshing beer; good times; and conquering your personal mountains,” Coors Light marketing director Ryan Marek said. “The Penguins and Flyers have been one another’s mountains for 50 years, and we couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity to show fans the next chapter and see which team will ‘Climb On’ this year!” 

Both teams have met 274 times during the regular season and they have met six times in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Flyers hold the 4-2 advantage in the playoffs.

“This is a great opportunity for our fans to see the Penguins face off in a unique outdoor setting against the Flyers, our longtime rivals and another member of the 1967 expansion class,” said Penguins President and CEO David Morehouse. “It will be one of the centerpieces of our 50th anniversary celebration, and we’re excited to be taking part. We appreciate the support of Dan and Art Rooney and the entire Pittsburgh Steelers organization in working with us on this event.” 

Along with these two outdoor games the NHL announced that the Centennial Classic will be played at BMO Field in Toronto. The Maple Leafs will host the Detroit Red Wings to celebrate 100 years of NHL hockey. More to come about the game on Everything NHL Inc.