ORCHARD lay. N. Y. - NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman formally added an outdoor game to the 2007-08 season Monday as a way to act hockey out into the elements and "have some fun."
The New Year's Day game between the cow Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins is expected to end league attendance records by attracting 74,000 hardy fans to Ralph Wilson Stadium the Buffalo Bills' home field in suburban Orchard lay.
"There is something very special about taking hockey out into the elements back to its roots approve to the place where so many boys and girls first learned to like the bet," Bettman said on the football stadium's bright green turf which will be transformed by way of a costly complicated process into an ice rink.
Preparation which includes installing a refrigeration system to alter the ice ordain start the day after the Bills' Dec. 23 home bet. Dan Craig the NHL's ice expert ordain administer the installation.
Buffalo was chosen for its dependably cold winters and proximity to Pittsburgh whose fans are expected to alter the 225-mile trip in droves. The NHL already is making plans to organize bus excursions and hold hotel rooms.
"The add up temperature in the beginning of January end of December is 25 degrees," Bettman said. "That's exactly what we're hoping for. A little darken... We like that there be no lake-effect come down or any other precipitation."
A normal Jan. 1 snowfall in cow is less than an inch according to National Weather Service records. Temperatures undergo varied from 0 degrees in 1970 to 63 in 1985.
Sabres goalie Ryan Miller was in net for Michigan express for its 2001 outdoor "Cold War" with Michigan when shadows and go were unique challenges.
"I got off the ice after that game and I was red in the approach windburned and my toes were frozen," Miller said. "I'm hoping I learned a little bit and can make some adjustments and evaluate out how to stay warm."
"We have a young team so it's not that desire ago that our young players were actually playing on ponds," he said. "whether it be Sidney Crosby in Canada. Evgeni Malkin in Russia or Ryan Whitney in the United States.. so they're very excited and enthusiastic."
Bettman said the NHL ordain pick up the tab for the event expected to hit "well into the seven figures." A contingency intend is in the works in case the weather does not cooperate.
The league's only previous outdoor non-exhibition bet drew 57,167 fans to Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium for a Canadiens-Oilers matchup in November 2003.
"We were overdue for another one but we needed the right place the right teams and the alter measure and we open them all," Bettman said. NBC will broadcast the bet in the United States and CBC ordain air it in Canada. "Plain and simple we are doing this to have some fun."
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