{"id":421141,"date":"2026-01-22T05:23:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T05:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/421141\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T05:23:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T05:23:20","slug":"bolts-captain-victor-hedman-excited-for-outdoor-hockey-in-tampa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/421141\/","title":{"rendered":"Bolts captain Victor Hedman excited for outdoor hockey in Tampa"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Preparations continue to transform Raymond James Stadium into a hockey venue for the NHL\u2019s Stadium Series between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins on Feb. 1.<\/p>\n

This will be the first outdoor hockey game in a football stadium in the state of Florida. It\u2019s a bold move, but the NHL has unpredictable weather in Tampa.<\/p>\n

Watch full report from Kyle Burger<\/p>\n

Bolts captain Victor Hedman excited for outdoor hockey in Tampa<\/p>\n

Crews have been busy building a steel frame for the tent, which will serve as the structure to protect the regulation-sized area from the sun and rain.<\/p>\n

\u201cPretty damn cool, to be honest,\u201d Lightning captain Victor Hedman said. \u201cYou know, beautiful weather today. Hopefully, this temperature will be the same on February 1. Just looking around here, I\u2019ve been coming here for years to watch football, and getting the chance to play outside here.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Hedman, the Stadium Series event represents a new challenge for a franchise seasoned by success.<\/p>\n

\u201cUs as a team and an organization, that\u2019s been to three straight finals, won a lot, a couple of Cups, always in the playoff hunt,\u201d Hedman said. \u201cThe Lightning is a team looked upon as one of the best in the NHL. It\u2019s fitting for us to get an outdoor game, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The league will use two mobile refrigeration trucks to make the ice for the NHL\u2019s 45th outdoor game. The ice will measure between 2 1\/2 to three inches thick, nearly double the depth of an indoor rink.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a player, you look at the bounces off the walls, the ice quality is harder or softer,\u201d Hedman said. \u201cYou can make small adjustments for your skates regarding that, the way you sharpen them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Temperature and humidity will be the biggest variables on game day. But the hope is that the refrigeration trucks and protective tent will make outdoor hockey possible in Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re 75 at puck drop, it\u2019ll be a bit of a challenge for us,\u201d Andrew Higgins, NHL\u2019s facility and operations manager, said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we both brought both of our refrigeration units. Those will be working hard if we\u2019re at 75, but the forecast looks like we\u2019ll be in the mid-to-low 60s, which is pretty much perfect for us. It\u2019s the same sort of conditions we have in our venues, so that\u2019ll be ideal if it holds true.”<\/p>\n

Share Your Story with Kyle Burger

For Tampa Bay 28 Sports Anchor Kyle Burger, pride in our local teams goes beyond college and the pros. Sports connect us as communities and families. You can connect with Kyle to share your passion for your local athletes below.
.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

26-year-old Manatee County woman survives workplace shooting after being shot 4 times<\/p>\n

Summer Freitag was working at a lab processing center when she witnessed a deadly shooting on Thursday, Jan.15.<\/p>\n

26-year-old woman survives workplace shooting after being shot 4 times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Preparations continue to transform Raymond James Stadium into a hockey venue for the NHL\u2019s Stadium…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5105],"tags":[7136,7137,5,189,4,540,32946,92,7138,5168,5167,1498,7139,7140],"class_list":{"0":"post-421141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-lightning","8":"tag-abc-action-news","9":"tag-abc-action-news-sports","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-lightning","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-tampa-bay","14":"tag-tampa-bay-28","15":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning","16":"tag-tampa-bay-sports","17":"tag-tampabay","18":"tag-tampabaylightning","19":"tag-victor-hedman","20":"tag-wfts","21":"tag-wfts-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115937084192254307","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}