There was a moment before the puck dropped on Saturday night. The seconds ticked down, 24…23….22. There was a chill in the air, along with a healthy dose of anticipation from the standing room only crowd. I had my phone in my hand to take photos, but something hit me and I put it down. I took a few seconds to stop and just look around. To listen to the music blaring over the speakers, hearing the cheers of the crowd as the game approached. 

I just remember looking around and smiling. “This is so freaking special”, I thought. 

It really was special. 

On Saturday night, my hometown Charlotte Checkers hosted the Rochester Americans in the 2024 AHL Outdoor Classic. It was the 12^th outdoor game in American Hockey League history, dating back to 2010 when the AHL started the annual tradition. But it was the first such game to feature the Checkers, and the first professional outdoor game in Charlotte. And for many of the 11,031 fans in attendance, I would guess it was their first outdoor game as well. 

Saturday night wasn’t my first outdoor game. That honor went to the 2023 Stadium Series in Raleigh, a game delayed two years by the COVID-19 pandemic. But the wait was well worth it. I learned last February what all those players from years past that raved about the Winter Classics and Stadium Series games meant. Yes, it’s a hockey game. Just add 35,000 more people in the stands and a ton of pageantry and pomp and it makes for a special night. 

I could go on about the particulars of Carter-Finley Stadium, home of the NC State Wolfpack. But the stadium isn’t what was special. I’d been to dozens of NHL games before in 29 different cities at the time, but there were a ton of firsts that I’d never seen before. Obviously, I’d never seen a pregame flyover at any of the 29 NHL arenas I’d visited (and obviously did not see a flyover in 30, 31, and 32 either). I’d never seen fireworks either. Nor marching bands behind the goal. Nor drones flying over the stadium taking pictures and videos. 

Nor had I ever seen 56,900 people come together to watch a hockey game. FIFTY. SIX. THOUSAND. NINE. HUNDRED. PEOPLE. I know that hockey plays a distant fourth-wheel role in the grand scheme of American sports. Hockey has the smallest fan base and probably gets the least amount of media attention of the four major professional sports. But there were FIFTY SIX THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED PEOPLE in a football stadium to watch the Hurricanes and Capitals. In North Carolina, no less!

That was special.

For all of their faults, Hurricanes fans have shown up in recent years. And I mean SHOWN UP. I’ve accused them of being fair-weather fans of sort, as evidenced by the half-empty Hurricanes games I attended in college. I also admit that things have gotten better for the franchise, and the fans deserve credit for their growing interest in the sport. I’m thrilled, actually. It’s made for a pretty strong hockey culture here in North Carolina, even if most of that culture is driven by transplants from the Northeast and Midwest. Guilty as charged!

Saturday night wasn’t my first outdoor hockey game. It wasn’t even my first outdoor game at Truist Field in Charlotte. That honor goes to a college club hockey game this past November between UNC Charlotte and Appalachian State. A college club hockey game in a city with only minor league hockey that drew 4,200 fans. I’d imagine that’s a record-setting crowd for both “mid-major” schools. 

And that game was special too. 

It wasn’t special for the hockey itself. Truist Field is a special place. Yeah, it’s a minor league ballpark, home to the Charlotte Knights baseball team. It’s not the fanciest sports venue in the world, but it’s located right in the heart of Uptown Charlotte. Skyscrapers and apartment building overlook right and center field, creating a “bright lights, big city” vibe that you won’t get at any other NHL arena because, well, they have roofs. 

It’s a special place because Knights games are a staple of every summer in Charlotte. You rarely go to Knights games for exceptional baseball. You go to Knights games to spend a weeknight with your friends, to enjoy a Thirsty Thursday beer special, or a Friday night fireworks show after the final pitch is thrown. You go to see how many former major league players you’ve heard of. You go because it’s just fun.

And that’s what Saturday night was – it was just fun. Yeah, it was cold. Yeah, the beers were too expensive. Yeah, the lines to go to the restroom were too long. But nobody cared. Everybody went to the game to have fun. Everybody went to the game to enjoy something unique. And in Charlotte, North Carolina, a city better known for banking and breweries and NASCAR, an outdoor minor league hockey game was the “hot ticket” of the town. 

That was special.

As I realized many times during my journey around the NHL, the game never really mattered that much. At my final NHL game in Toronto, I couldn’t tell you much about what happened during the game. It didn’t matter, because that night was all about family and friendship and living my “dream come true “. I couldn’t tell you much about what happened during the Checkers game either. To be fair, this game wasn’t as much about emotion as it was about the beer growler special we got from Duckworth’s, but work with me here. The logic still works!

Like all those other games, it was about the people I spent the game with. It was about getting back out on the town with my teammates from the Lizard Kings. About drinking beers and that painful shot of Slovakian brandy with Matt and Eric and Paul, and chirping our captain Bill from five rows back. And it was special to see the game with them specifically, as we played a charity tournament together last year on this very rink, on this very field. 

The game was about bringing friends like Boston Drew and Jon and Sam and George and Liz together to enjoy the evening. About seeing “neighbor Matt” sneak on to the giant slide in right field during the second intermission and celebrating his daring stunt. And about meeting new people too, like Adam and Ava from the United Kingdom in their Nottingham Panthers jerseys, and Greg from Dayton, Ohio who sat next to us. 

That was special.

On all of my trips, during every game, I usually found a few minutes of quiet reflection where I’d just look aimlessly at the crowd. I’d just soak in the experience, thinking about how fortunate I was to be on the journey, in Winnipeg or Dallas or Chicago or wherever it was. I remember thinking about being in Vancouver with my best friend Craig and thinking how lucky we were. I remember thinking the same about Boston Drew and Dad and I at the Stadium Series. 

As those seconds ticked off the pregame clock at Truist Field on Saturday, I had my moment of quiet reflection. It was probably only 20 or 30 seconds, but thanks to the growler, it felt like much longer. It felt like a conversation my friend Aubrey and I had recently. That feeling I was chasing Saturday night, and thankfully found, was not happiness. It was peace. 

I felt at peace. I spent an evening with some of my closest friends. At a hockey game in my home city of Charlotte, North Carolina. At a minor league ballpark where I played a hockey tournament with my teammates. We laughed. We ate pizza. We drank beer. A bit too much, perhaps. 

And for a few precious seconds on Saturday night, I thought about Grandma. It felt like she was there in spirit, watching over us. Making sure the weather wasn’t too cold, the wind wasn’t too strong, the drinks cold and plentiful. Checking in on her hometown Charlotte Checkers that she probably never watched. Helping them score three third-period goals en route to a 5-2 win, sending us out to Mint Street happy.

Maybe it was “happiness”. Maybe it was “peace”. But in that brief moment of quiet reflection at the 2024 AHL Outdoor Classic, I felt like Grandma was there at the game with us having fun. 

And that was special. Really special.