One of the highlights of an outdoor NHL game, outside of the spectacle of a rink in a stadium, is the players’ grand entrance.
At the 2024 Winter Classic in Seattle, Vegas Golden Knights players dressed up as Elvis and the host Kraken players dressed up as fishmongers.
A year earlier, the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins wore vintage Red Sox and Pirates uniforms for the 2023 Winter Classic at Fenway Park.
With the NHL holding two outdoor games this weekend at MetLife Stadium in this weekend’s Stadium Series in East Rutherford, New Jersey, it gave players another chance to show off their coordinated cleverness.
The Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils were up first on Saturday night and they came through.
Flyers players got off their bus dressed as Rocky Balboa, imitating Sylvester Stallone’s running scenes from the ‘Rocky’ movie.
Devils players went with ‘The Sopranos’ look.
‘I think it was kind of fitting,’ Devils forward Tyler Toffoli told NHL Network. ‘We obviously had some options. I think we were looking at the iconic Bruce (Springsteen) with the red hat, too. But I think we pulled it off and some guys went all out.’
The New York Rangers and New York Islanders got their chance on Sunday when they arrived with police officers and firefighters in official NYPD and FDNY vehicles.
As the two New York teams were set to take the temporary ice covering the football field, they were introduced by a contingent of NFL players from the New York Jets and Giants.
Perhaps appropriately, the last word came from Giants quarterback and – as football fans well know by now – nearby New Jersey resident Tommy DeVito.
The eight total Jets and Giants players on hand for the ceremony also included star running backs Breece Hall and Saquon Barkley.