The NHL drew high marks from national media for its Winter Classic in Miami between the Panthers and Rangers on Friday.
In Miami, Jordan McPherson wrote the event “lived up to -- and potentially exceeded -- expectations in so many ways.” The league “showed it could put on a spectacle of an outdoor game in the Sunshine State” and “everything was great.” Things “couldn’t have gone smoother.” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said, “The story really is the show that went on here today, the spectacle of it. It’s not the X’s and O’s. This was brilliant, just absolutely brilliant” (MIAMI HERALD, 1/2). McPherson in a separate piece wrote the event was a “rousing success” and “provided a snapshot of hockey’s growth in the Sunshine State.” The “spectacle on the field was truly a sight to see” (MIAMI HERALD, 1/3).
In Miami, David Neal set the scene, writing there was a “burning marijuana scent blown away by the old-school cool of the cigars, Ferraris and Miami Vice threads of the Florida Panthers arriving at loanDepot Park.” Tailgaters were “blasting the Panthers’ goal song and Pitbull.” There was “faux snow” (MIAMI HERALD, 1/3).
In Tampa, Eduardo Encina wrote the “first outdoor hockey game in Florida was a long time coming” as a “decade ago, the league wasn’t ready.” Technology has “improved vastly, accompanied by some unwavering creativity.” Fans are “not attending these games to get an up-close seat to the action,” but for the “overall experience and to be able to say you were there to see something that’s never been done before” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 1/2).
The AP’s Tim Reynolds wrote the NHL “could play these outdoor games anywhere and draw big viewership numbers, sold-out crowds and celebrated the sport appropriately.” But it “finally chose to give the Sunshine State a shot.” It was a “challenge, for certain,” but “so far, so good.” And the Panthers have “gone from a franchise dogged by constant rumors of moving to being perhaps the hottest ticket in town” (AP, 1/3).
FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW’s George Richards wrote the event “was, in a word, spectacular.” The game is “growing whether you like it or not” (FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW, 1/4). In West Palm Beach, Tom D’Angelo wrote the crowd of 36,153, a sellout, is “one more sellout than the Marlins had the last two baseball seasons combined in the same building” (PALM BEACH POST, 1/3).
