As northerners, we’re not too excited about the 2026 NHL Winter Classic being played at Miami’s loanDepot Park–but we are sure eager to see how the NHL and Florida Panthers pull off an ice rink and snow in an indoor ballpark.

We have attended a Target Field Winter Classic and many other outdoor hockey games; heck, as Minnesotans, it’s canon that the cold temperatures weed out the weak and provide a better experience for the hardy. It’s an even better experience if there’s snow falling on the ice.

Well, snow is being promised for the 2026 NHL Winter Classic, set for Friday, Jan. 2, at 8 p.m. Eastern and broadcast on TNT, TruTV and HBO Max in the United States, Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada. A NHL ice surface is being prepped for the home of the Miami Marlins. The roof is closed at loanDepot Park, with the temperature some 20 degrees cooler than usual as two portable refrigeration units work to bring a playable ice surface to the ballpark. Truth be told, outdoor ice surfaces tend to be a crapshoot even in the chilliest of climes and theoretically the best of circumstances: ice surfaces with artificial refrigeration can go rough very quickly, and too much snow will slow down the skating speeds.

So we’ll be eager to see how the ice plays at loanDepot Park. The NHL is constructing a beach atmosphere on the playing field, complete with fake palm trees and a lifeguard shack, to create a tropical background, with a street-hockey rink in the outfield. Contrast the tropical milieu with the promise to provide snow falling on fans. Now, anyone visiting Grandma in Florida during the holidays knows that outdoor snow isn’t anything falling from the clouds but rather than snoap shot from a bubble machine.

But hey, snoap can be fun, and that’s keeping in line with what the Panthers and the NHL are promising for the 2026 NHL Winter Classic, per AP:

“This is a show,” said [Steve Mayer, the NHL’s president for events and content]. “There’s a hockey game that goes on, and that is so important. I mean, this is a big game. Panthers-Rangers, you know, when we’re in April, this could be a game that could determine whether a team makes the playoffs or not. But we also know that people are here for an experience, for something different, and we’re going to give it to them — and we’re going to have some fun along the way.”…

Some entertainers will be in parkas, some in swim wear.

“We’ve designed it so that winter meets summer — or let’s go the opposite way, here in Florida, summer meets winter,” Mayer said. “Fire, ice, hot, cold, all of the thematics that you would think. So, half the field is going to be a Miami beach … and the other side is as if a huge snowstorm has hit Miami. That’s the dynamic that we’re going to have fun with throughout the game.”

Photo courtesy Florida Panthers.


About Kevin Reichard
Kevin Reichard is founder and publisher of Ballpark Digest.