Weather Conditions Affecting Hockey Games

vikash1987

Registered User
Mar 7, 2004
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New York
My question: what are some examples, from hockey history, of games being affected by weather-related arena conditions?

The inspiration for this thread was my look back at Game 7 of the 1971 Stanley Cup Finals between the Canadiens and Black Hawks. Chicago was undergoing a massive, unseasonable heat wave at the time: temperatures were in the upper 80s outside, and even higher---in the 90s---inside Chicago Stadium. The ice was soft during the game, and a fog haze developed multiple times which affected the players' rhythm in the 1st period. One of the sports editors even referred to the arena that evening as a "steaming cauldron." (It wasn't all bad: in attendance among the 20,000 were lots of beautiful young women donning hot pants because of the weather, who ended up being showcased nationally in the U.S. on the evening news the next day!)

I'm sure there are other, even better examples of severe heat waves, cold fronts, etc. having an influence on ice-level conditions of certain games---be they crucial playoff games or not. But I'm struggling to think of them.
 

Staniowski

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Jan 13, 2018
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The Maritimes
I'm not sure about the particular games, but I remember reading that when the Leafs played at The Arena (aka the Mutual Street Arena), other NHL games (i.e. games not involving the Leafs) were sometimes played there because it was the only rink in Eastern Canada with artificial ice. I'm not sure how many of the U.S. arenas had artificial ice, but Montreal and Ottawa didn't for many years.
 

vikash1987

Registered User
Mar 7, 2004
1,302
564
New York
I remember that, during the 2018 Cup Finals, the June temperatures outside Vegas's T-Mobile Arena were 100+, which resulted in poor ice. But I don't remember this being as significant an issue as folks originally thought.

Any other examples from teams based in the American Sun Belt, such as Florida, Arizona, Dallas, etc.?
 

The Panther

Registered User
Mar 25, 2014
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Tokyo, Japan
In 1988 it was minus 99 in Edmonton.
There was actually a game at Northlands during 1988-89 -- I think it was in January, 1989 -- when the temperature was hovering around -41 Celcius outside, probably considerably colder with the wind-chill. The game was still broadcast on TV, and I watched it (I recall Jimmy Carson scoring the winner in the third), but it was bizarre because there were maybe 6,000 people in the seats.

You know it's cold outside when Edmontonians can't make it to the rink.
 
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Zegras Zebra

Registered User
May 7, 2016
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Winnipeg, Manitoba
In 1995 heavy rain caused a flood preventing a game between the Sharks and the Red Wings from being played. It is the only NHL game to be postponed due to rain. Also there was that infamous snowstorm in the 1980's which resulted in only 300 or so people showing up to a New Jersey Devils game but I'm sure someone else would have more details on that event.
 
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tarheelhockey

Offside Review Specialist
Feb 12, 2010
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Bojangles Parking Lot
I'm not sure about the particular games, but I remember reading that when the Leafs played at The Arena (aka the Mutual Street Arena), other NHL games (i.e. games not involving the Leafs) were sometimes played there because it was the only rink in Eastern Canada with artificial ice. I'm not sure how many of the U.S. arenas had artificial ice, but Montreal and Ottawa didn't for many years.

Natural ice is a largely forgotten nuance of hockey’s formative years. Entire season schedules depended on the timely arrival of winter. A warm snap could make the surfaces unplayable. Key late-season games were impacted by slushy ice surfaces, and nervous managers compacted playoff schedules to keep ahead of an early spring.

On the other side of the coin, when the temperature plunged to hockey-friendly temperatures, the reliance on natural ice meant you couldn’t heat a rink too much. Lobbies and other side-rooms were heated, but the playing area itself had to be kept cool.

A great example of this was the Quebec Arena, where the QC Bulldogs played in the NHL’s early years. The night Joe Malone scored his still-standing record of 8 goals, the weather was absolutely frigid due to a bitter cold snap. The players were so cold that they would retreat to the dressing room rather than sit on the bench, until called upon to sub for some poor freezing teammate. Corb Denneny got frostbite on the fingers of one hand. It may have been the coldest NHL game ever played, including the Winter Classics played in falling snow. The fact that over 1000 spectators were willing to sit through this is remarkable.

It was under these batshit conditions that Malone set one of the most important records in the sport.
 

Normand Lacombe

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Jan 30, 2008
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1,352
During the Flyers second season in 1968-69, the Flyers were caught in a blizzard en route from Boston to New York. The train Philadelphia was forced to take took more than eight and a half hours to arrive at MSG. The game against the Rangers was scheduled to start at 8:00 PM, but, since the Flyers didn't arrive until 7:00 PM, the start time was pushed back to 9:15 PM. New York came back from a 3-0 deficit to tie the exhausted Flyers.

In March of 1993, a window pane inside the Spectrum concourse was shattered by a blizzard resulting in the postponement of a Kings/Flyers game after the first period.
 

SealsFan

Registered User
May 3, 2009
1,713
500
In the Cleveland Barons second and last season, 1977-78, there was an early-season game vs. Buffalo cancelled because of snow. It was re-scheduled in Cleveland between a Monday and Wednesday game in January, causing the Barons to play home games on three consecutive nights... and they won all 3 against some of the league's best teams (Islanders, Sabres Leafs)!! And they played Thursday night in Pittsburgh but lost so they played on four straight nights -- when was the last time you've seen that? (incidentally the combined attendance for the 3 games was around 7,000!!)
 

ted2019

History of Hockey
Oct 3, 2008
5,492
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pittsgrove nj
During the Flyers second season in 1968-69, the Flyers were caught in a blizzard en route from Boston to New York. The train Philadelphia was forced to take took more than eight and a half hours to arrive at MSG. The game against the Rangers was scheduled to start at 8:00 PM, but, since the Flyers didn't arrive until 7:00 PM, the start time was pushed back to 9:15 PM. New York came back from a 3-0 deficit to tie the exhausted Flyers.

In March of 1993, a window pane inside the Spectrum concourse was shattered by a blizzard resulting in the postponement of a Kings/Flyers game after the first period.

I remember the Flyers/Kings game as it was a Saturday afternoon tilt.
 

Nerowoy nora tolad

Registered User
May 9, 2018
1,403
652
Gladstone, Australia
Natural ice is a largely forgotten nuance of hockey’s formative years. Entire season schedules depended on the timely arrival of winter. A warm snap could make the surfaces unplayable. Key late-season games were impacted by slushy ice surfaces, and nervous managers compacted playoff schedules to keep ahead of an early spring.

On the other side of the coin, when the temperature plunged to hockey-friendly temperatures, the reliance on natural ice meant you couldn’t heat a rink too much. Lobbies and other side-rooms were heated, but the playing area itself had to be kept cool.

A great example of this was the Quebec Arena, where the QC Bulldogs played in the NHL’s early years. The night Joe Malone scored his still-standing record of 8 goals, the weather was absolutely frigid due to a bitter cold snap. The players were so cold that they would retreat to the dressing room rather than sit on the bench, until called upon to sub for some poor freezing teammate. Corb Denneny got frostbite on the fingers of one hand. It may have been the coldest NHL game ever played, including the Winter Classics played in falling snow. The fact that over 1000 spectators were willing to sit through this is remarkable.

It was under these batshit conditions that Malone set one of the most important records in the sport.


This makes the challenge cup era make a lot more sense. Season end playoffs are iffy as hell, so we treat the season as a tuneup period in the early Sept-December months, then launch your challenge bids in January, February, March (seems to mesh with the actual history of challenges).

On the topic of those early arenas, how exactly was the building set up in the absence of refrigeration systems. Was there some sort of air flow bringing the cold air in from outside, given that most rinks seating on the order of thousands of people tend to warm up from the body heat of the spectators, especially if the air around them isnt moving?
 
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