The long wait for seeing the Nashville Predators play in their first ever NHL Winter Classic is almost over. Here’s what you need to know.
The 2020 NHL Winter Classic will feature the Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars from the Cotton Bowl. Two teams playing in their first Winter Classic in an event usually featuring the NHL’s original and oldest franchises.
Entering the game the Predators are looking to get back into a playoff spot and move up the Central Division standings. The Stars are currently just two points ahead of the Predators and they’ve played two more games. However, they did just easily defeat the Predators 4-1 in Nashville earlier this month.
Let’s go over some facts and notes about the history of the venue, some history of the game, the uniforms and the future of the event as it pertains to the Predators.
The venue
The Predators and Stars will clash at the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day for the 2020 Winter Classic. The Cotton Bowl is a massive outdoor stadium that can hold over 92,000 people. I’ll be very interested to see what the announced attendance will be for this game.
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This one became the second-fastest Winter Classic to sellout, per Sporting News. Over 80,000 tickets were sold, and I’d expect most of them to show up. The thought of that many people witnessing the Predators play hockey on New Year’s Day is pretty awesome and will help their national brand tremendously.
I fully expect to see plenty of Predators fans throughout the stadium. I’d be extremely impressed if the Predators fans reach around 40 percent of the crowd as they are playing in Texas and plenty of Stars fans will show up and outnumber the Nashville representation.
The matchup
Neither team has every played in the Winter Classic, and it’s featuring two Southern state teams for the first time in the history of the event. Both teams are currently very close in the standings, with the Stars being just two points ahead of the Predators in the Central Division.
They played each other once already this season with the Stars cruising to an easy 4-1 win. The Predators followed that up with a four-game road trip where they managed seven of a possible eight points on the trip.
We’re getting to see plenty of superstars in this matchup as well. Fans from all over should be excited to see guys like Filip Forsberg, Matt Duchene, Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov take the ice.
Both teams have loads of depth as well, and the Predators bring a highly-electric offense while Dallas plays a stingy defensive style.
This is a rivalry that is gradually brewing as the Stars shockingly eliminated the Predators from the playoffs last season in six games. With them clashing in the Winter Classic, this is a rivalry in the making.
The uniforms
Uniforms from both teams got some heavy criticism, but also have their fans. The Predators went with a pretty simple design and are paying homage to the Dixie Flyers, which was the first professional hockey team in Nashville.
The Dixie Flyers played hockey in Nashville until 1971 and won back-to-back championships in 1966 and 1967. It’s pretty cool to see what hockey has evolved into here in Nashville and that the Predators will be sporting similar uniforms.
As for the Stars, they stuck with the same green color scheme that they already have. It’s a little more flashy than the Predators’ Winter Classic jersey, and has ties to the Dallas Texans from the 1940’s. The logos are very similar to the Texans logo.
Both teams did excellent jobs at tying these uniforms to their respective hockey histories. Once we see them in action and up against each other, they’re both going to look really sharp.
How to watch
The game will be broadcast nationally on NBC, and Canada will broadcast it on Sportsnet. There’s obviously going to be great national exposure for both teams that don’t always get a lot of nationally televised games like many of the more traditional NHL franchises.
Even with the Predators going to the Stanley Cup Final just a couple years ago, they don’t get a ton of national exposure on NBC. They occasionally get on NBC Sports Network on weeknight games, but rarely on NBC for a weekend game.
The puck drop will be at 1 P.M. CDT from the Cotton Bowl. The Predators have a home-and-home with the Pittsburgh before playing in this game, while the Stars have tough back-to-back matchups with Colorado and Arizona.