PHILADELPHIA -- For NHL players, outdoor games are a chance to relive their youth and to have some fun in the middle of a grueling season. Here are some pre-game vignettes from South Philadelphia as Penguins players remember their past outdoor game experiences and what they're looking forward to tonight:
Nick Bjugstad
Growing up in the "Land of 10,000 Lakes," Bjugstad has certainly played in the great outdoors before. At the University of Minnesota, he once played at Chicago's Soldier Field against Bryan Rust and Notre Dame. But his most memorable moment came a few years earlier in a high school game played in northern Minnesota.
"It was in Roseau, worst weather I've ever dealt with in hockey, coldest experience," he says. "It was like minus-40 and they had these big pipes with heat under them at our bench and we 'd just sit there. You almost hoped your name didn't get called because it was so darned cold. Looking back, it was one of the more fun days in hockey. It was 'Hockey Day in Minnesota.' It was on TV and everything. That's kind of how us Minnesotans roll."
Matt Murray
The Penguins' starting goalie is one of the most mature 24-year-olds you'll ever meet. But, apparently, he wasn't always that way. At least not when it came to hockey, or is it hooky?
"My uncle had a pond in his backyard that we used to play on (in Thunder Bay, Ontario); that’s where it all got started," he says. "Used to go to the outdoor rinks with my buddies. We used to skip school sometimes and go to the outdoor rinks."
But did he ever play in rain like he will tonight?
"It doesn't rain in Thunder Bay, only snows," he said with a laugh.
Jack Johnson
The defenseman has played 849 regular-season games in his 13-year career and hasn't played in a single outdoor game. Tonight will be Johnson's first, and the 32-year-old sounds genuinely enthused to do so. Despite the usually sloppy conditions for these games, he says he's never heard anyone say a bad word. Johnson once wanted to play football at the University of Michigan and dreamt of running out of the tunnel to the cheers -- or boos -- of tens of thousands of fans. Well, tonight is his chance.
"It's just something, one of those things in the middle of a grueling regular season, it's something exciting," Johnson said. "It's different. It's not every day you play in a game like this."
Casey DeSmith
In need of new pads recently and with the Stadium Series game coming up, DeSmith thought 'why not bright yellow?'
"Thought they'd look really good," the backup goalie was telling me. "Obviously, I knew (Marc-Andre) Fleury wore them early on in his career and people really liked them. I figured if I brought them back, it would be a nod to him and something I could do for myself."
Obviously, he's well aware of why Fleury stopped wearing the yellow pads early on his Penguins career. The thinking in the mid-2000's was that Fleury was giving shooter's an added advantage with the color of his pads. Since they contrasted with the white of the net, if a shooter saw only white, he knew exactly where to shoot. DeSmith, who got to know Fleury a little bit his rookie season during a goalie's camp, says he doesn't buy a word of that stuff.
DeSmith also has a special Steelers-inspired mask that he's had made for tonight's game. It's black and features a gold stripe down the middle with a steel worker punting a football on one side.
Chad Ruhwedel
Born and raised in sunny San Diego, Ruhwedel never grew up playing on any ponds. But he did play in his first outdoor game in 2017 at Heinz Field. He even scored a goal in that game, the second of his career.
"The ice is a little different than what we're used to, but everyone's playing on the same sheet so everyone will get used to it," he says. "But outdoor games are awesome. I never played in any as a kid, but always something you look forward to doing someday."
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