Heritage Classic blog: Mario Ferraro

Winnipeg Jets defenseman Mario Ferraro is keeping his own blog through the 2026 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic at Winnipeg’s Princess Auto Stadium on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX).

In his first entry, Ferraro discusses what it will be like for him to play in the Heritage Classic, which will be his first outdoor NHL game, and how the Jets look after the Friday trade of goalie Connor Hellebuyck to the New Jersey Devils, which netted them forwards Dawson Mercer, Nick Bjugstad, goalie Nico Daws, prospect Alexander Command and two draft picks.

I'm super excited to be a part of the Heritage Classic for the first time in my career. I'm recognizing it as, you know, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

So, I haven't played an outdoor game before and I don't think I've played outdoor hockey since pond hockey when I was younger.

I'm really excited to get out there, even for tomorrow's practice with the family skate. My wife, McKenna and my daughter Solenne are coming and my sister is going to be there with her daughter. It’s going to be good family time, some family in town and friends too, to experience it as well.

My daughter just turned 1 in August. She's already running my show over here around the house. So it will be fun to share this with her.

I attended the outdoor game in St. Louis, a long time ago. I was playing junior hockey for the Des Moines Buccaneers in the United States Hockey League. I went with my billet family. It was St. Louis against the Chicago Blackhawks at Busch Stadium in the 2017 Winter Classic and it was awesome.

It was just a really cool all-around experience. Really cool that my billet family, who I still talk to today, shout out to them, the Barfels, got us tickets, and it was, it was quite a cold day. I think it was a lot colder that day and snowing and we were bundled up pretty good in the crowd.

I think were bundled up a lot more than people will have to be Sunday, judging by the temperature today, it seems like it. I don't know what the weather is going be like Sunday, but it's a beautiful day in Winnipeg right now, so it's definitely not that cold.

The game in St. Louis was cool, a really large atmosphere. We're used to big crowds in the NHL, but, with a bigger stadium like that, and it's just like a lot more room for fans. It was pretty electric. Now to be a part of one is pretty cool and special, so I'm, I'm excited.

I haven’t been to a Winnipeg Blue Bombers game yet but I have been to the stadium because I went to an AC/DC concert, which was really cool, at the beginning of the summer. It’s a super cool stadium. So excited to see what it looks like with the rink in the middle.

I’ve heard Bombers games are great too, so that's another experience that, you know, I'll have to have at some point.

Like I mentioned, I haven’t played outside in a long time, probably last time I was home during the winter in King City, Ontario.  Never played an organized game outside, just shinny. I've been in California for the past seven years, so we don't have shinny hockey over there; it's sunny all year round.

This game against Montreal is huge for us.

We got off to a pretty good start on the year, but we have been going through a little bit of a tough stretch of games in the last three or four, all one-goal games. Just struggling to find a way to win, but there's some positives to take away in that.

If we want to stay in this hunt and continue to get our points and push for a playoff spot, these games really count. A big game before a really tough road trip and a tough stretch of games. We have Florida coming in Tuesday, and then we go to Florida and play Carolina as well. So, we got, we got a tough stretch of games here that, that the Sunday one is definitely huge.

With the trade being made, some new guys are coming in, which I'm really excited to meet. I'm excited about the new guys coming in. We added some, some great players and great talent and, and some grit to our lineup, which I'm pumped up about.

I'm hoping that we get off to a good start with them and we kind of keep it rolling. Get some groove going like we had in the first three or four games of the year.

I am excited to meet Dawson Mercer and some of the other pickups that we got. I played against Dawson for the past several years when I was in San Jose and he's had a lot of success in the NHL. I'm excited for him to hopefully add that success to our squad here.

So, tomorrow should be special on so many counts. I can’t wait.