Canes take it outside, will host NHL outdoor game at NC State’s Carter-Finley Stadium
It has been talked about for a few years and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman made it official Friday: There will be an outdoor hockey game at N.C. State’s Carter-Finley Stadium in 2023.
Bettman, in a press conference in Las Vegas, announced the Carolina Hurricanes would host a NHL Stadium Series outdoor game during the 2022-23 season. The game will be played in February 2023, the Hurricanes said Friday, with the opponent to be named in the next few months.
“We’re thrilled to finally get the chance to safely host an outdoor game in Raleigh,” Don Waddell, the Hurricanes president and general manager, said in a statement. “Our fans have waited for this event since we announced it two years ago, and we know that their passion and energy will create an unbelievable atmosphere at Carter-Finley.”
The outdoor game initially had been planned for Feb. 20, 2021, but was postponed because of the pandemic and concerns about health and safety issues.
“We’ll be back at some point,” Bettman said in June 2021. “It’s just a question of timing, stadium logistics and the like. We are very much looking forward to having an outdoor game in Carolina.”
Waddell said the decision to postpone the game for a year was a mutual agreement “to assure a safe environment in front of a packed house at Carter-Finley Stadium.” A crowd of more than 55,000 is expected at the game.
The 2023 edition of the NHL Stadium Series in Raleigh will be the 13th NHL Stadium Series game and the 37th NHL regular-season outdoor game overall. The game will mark the first time the Hurricanes have participated in an outdoor game.
Carter-Finley Stadium will be the sixth college football facility to host one of the NHL’s outdoor games, joining Michigan Stadium, Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (Navy), TCF Bank Stadium (University of Minnesota), Notre Dame Stadium and Falcon Stadium (Air Force).
The Hurricanes have hosted the 2011 NHL All-Star Game and 2004 NHL Draft at PNC Arena. Not long after Tom Dundon became majority owner in January 2018, the Canes began to make plans on bidding an outdoor game at Carter-Finley, working in conjunction with N.C. State.
Bettman, after a visit to Raleigh in February 2019, said the NHL was “seriously looking” at the possibility of holding an outdoor game at Carter-Finley Stadium. A year later, the league announced an outdoor game would be played in February 2021, Dundon saying, “We’re proud to be the first NHL market in the Southeast to host an outdoor game.”
NCSU athletic director Boo Corrigan said in 2020 that an outdoor hockey game would be “a unique event that’s going to be great for N.C. State’s brand.”
The pandemic put everything on hold and the 2021 game was postponed. But the wait ended Friday. It’s on again.
This story was originally published February 4, 2022 at 6:22 PM.
