Sights & Sounds From The Frozen Confines

All you need to know is that it was a little cold

My senior year at Michigan State, I attended an event called “The Cold War”. They converted Spartan Stadium into an outdoor hockey rink for a game between MSU and um. The outdoor game was the first of its kind, though it would promptly inspire loads of imitators, and at the time, it was the highest attended hockey game in history.

Despite the fact that these outdoor games now happen a few times a year in both the NHL and collegiate levels, making use of football and baseball stadiums alike, the novelty of the event has not worn off. On Saturday night on the north side of Chicago, the Michigan State Men’s Hockey Team took to the ice against the Wisconsin Badgers on a sheet of ice setup inside of Wrigley Field, home of MLB’s Chicago Cubs, with center ice positioned right about where I would imagine second base to be. Unlike previous outdoor games, this was actually the fifth game in a multi-day event called “The Frozen Confines” at Wrigley with an NHL game on New Year’s Day, two collegiate games on January 3rd, and two more (including one women’s game) on January 4th. Michigan State, the #1 team in the land, taking on Wisconsin was the grand finale.

Nearly identical to The Cold War game back in 2001, this game was sent to an overtime period with a tying goal scored with under 50 seconds left (47 seconds remaining in The Cold War; 49 seconds remaining in The Frozen Confines”), though on Saturday night, it was MSU’s opponent with the late OT-forcing goal. Unlike The Cold War, however, this game did not end in a tie as MSU’s Daniel Russell scored the winner with 1.4 seconds left (the game would have gone to penalty shots, something that did not exist back in 2001) when he chased his own rebound from the low slot to the goalie’s right and swept the puck in short side amid a pile of Badger defenders. The Spartan bench cleared immediately for a celebration in the corner as a pyrotechnics display was set off above the outfield video displays.

For Danny Russell, it was his NCAA-leading sixth game winner this season. It was his second goal of the game, also scoring in the second period as well as getting an assist on MSU’s 3rd period goal, and it earned himself a spot in the postgame press conference along with coach Adam Nightingale and goalie Luca Di Pasquo. Di Pasquo earned his fourth win in seven days as he fills in for Trey Augustine, who was busy helping Team USA win gold at the World Junior Championships.

Speaking for myself and Steve Neumann, who was also in attendance, I will simply say this was an amazing event, a sentiment shared by both head coaches – Nightingale and Wisconsin’s Mike Hastings – in their post-game comments. Even the players who spoke to the media afterwards talked about “Having chills”, and they weren’t just talking about the temps (which were in the teens) though that was discussed by both teams too.

One of the writers jokingly asked Nightingale why he and the coaching staff were not wearing hats on the bench, to which he responded that the heaters on the bench and the adrenaline kept him warm enough. But even the players said they could feel the cold, and Di Pasquo said that he liked it when Badgers were on offense because having to move around helped him stay warm and keep feeling in his toes.

The Wisconsin press conference participants were all class acts and were full of respect for our team. Coach Hastings paid us compliments and said he is trying to get his team to our level of consistency and success. The two players, Ryland Mosley and Quinn Finley, who connected on the late equalizer (Mosley called Finley’s feed the best pass he ever received), commented how this MSU squad just always seems to play at the same high level and never panic or get excited based on the situation of the game.

I really only have two negative things to say about the experience. The first is that the design of Wrigley Field is horrible and it is a nightmare trying to reach the press box at the top of the stadium behind home plate. Most venues I have been to have a direct route for people to get up to the press box, but Wrigley just had us walking the stairs and corridors with the fans until the entrance to the press box at the end of the upper deck.

The second negative was the weather. The temperature in Wrigleyville was in the high teens at the beginning of the game. By the end, it was probably a couple degrees above ten. And yet, I braved the elements for the entire second period to go down to ice level and snap some real photos. Here are some of my favorites for your enjoyment.