Hurrcanes, NC State to host NHL Stadium Series game in 2023
Carter-Finley Stadium is seen in this iPhone panorama in February 2019. Cones on the field mark an approximate location for an outdoor hockey rink.
The News and the Observer
We’ve been talking about it for a year and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman made it official on Friday: there will be an outdoor hockey game at NC State’s Carter-Finley Stadium.
Bettman, at a press conference in Las Vegas, announced that the Carolina Hurricanes would host an NHL Stadium Series outdoor game during the 2022-23 season.
The game will be played in February 2023, the Hurricanes announced Friday. The opponent will be named at a later date, the team said.
“We are thrilled to finally have the chance to safely host an outdoor game in Raleigh,” Hurricanes president and general manager Don Waddell said in a statement. “Our fans have been waiting for this event since we announced it two years ago, and we know their passion and energy will create an incredible atmosphere at Carter-Finley.”
The outdoor game was originally scheduled for February 20, 2021 but was postponed due to the pandemic and concerns over health and safety issues.
“We’ll be back at some point,” Bettman said in June 2021. “It’s just a matter of timing, stadium logistics, etc. We’re very excited to have an outdoor game in Carolina.
Waddell said the decision to postpone the game for a year was a mutual agreement “to ensure a safe environment in front of a packed house at Carter-Finley Stadium”.
The 2023 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series™ will be game 13 of the NHL Stadium Series and the 37th outdoor game of the NHL regular season. The game will mark the first time the Hurricanes have played in an outdoor game.
Carter-Finley Stadium will be the sixth college football facility to host one of the NHL’s outdoor games, joining Michigan Stadium, Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (Navy), TCF Bank Stadium (University of Minnesota), Notre Dame Stadium and Falcon Stadium (Aviation).
The Hurricanes hosted the 2011 NHL All-Star Game and the 2004 NHL Draft at the PNC Arena.
This story was originally published February 4, 2022 6:22 p.m.