NHL begins preparation for outdoor games at MetLife Stadium

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The NHL mobile refrigeration truck arrived at MetLife Stadium on Monday, the first step in the herculean task of building a hockey rink to stage two NHL outdoor games with fans in attendance on back-to-back days for the first time.

"It'll be different for us because usually it's a build up to kind of that big game day and then sort of the post event crash," said Andrew Higgins, NHL senior manager, facilities operations and hockey operations. "I think this will be a little extra challenging, just kind of ramping ourselves up a second day and getting ready for that second game before we get ready to tear out.

"So, for sure it'll be a little bit different of a unique opportunity for our team."

The 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series will have two regular-season outdoor games featuring four Metropolitan Division rivals. The New Jersey Devils will face the Philadelphia Flyers on Feb. 17 (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN360, TVAS2), and the New York Rangers will play the New York Islanders the following day (3 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS).

"This is Game 3 (and 4) for us for the outdoor season, and we've had two successful games, the Heritage Classic in Edmonton and the Winter Classic in Seattle, so it's nice to be in New Jersey," said Derek King, NHL senior director, facilities operations and hockey operations. "Once we get the refrigeration truck parked, we'll start doing all of our piping connections [Tuesday]. The scaffolding has been built, so we're going to come off the trailer, onto the scaffolding, go through the concourse and down to the field and over the next couple of days, you'll see everything come together.

"February 8 is a big day for us -- that's when you're going to kind of see the field transform, the flooring go in, dashers go up. We plan on the evening of the Feb. 8 to start making ice."

The main function of the mobile refrigeration truck, a 53-foot long, 300-ton capacity refrigeration unit, is to perform the key function of making a great sheet of ice, remove heat from the surface and stabilize the temperature.

The refrigeration unit pumps as much as 3,000 gallons of glycol coolant into custom-made aluminum trays that will be configured on the field at MetLife Stadium. Running through a series of hoses from the refrigeration unit to the field, the glycol chills the trays, in order to keep the ice near its ideal surface temperature of 22 degrees Fahrenheit. After the placement of the ice trays, the rink boards are installed.

"We're looking at a four-day build once we get everything set up and start making ice," King said. "It's probably going to be a seven-day process, and we always look to be ahead of schedule. It's a big two games for those teams, important games, later in the season. So, we'll be planning to wrap everything up probably the evening of Feb. 14."

The home of the New York Giants and New York Jets will host the 40th and 41st regular-season outdoor games in NHL history. The 38th was the 2023 Tim Hortons Heritage Classic at Commonwealth Stadium on Oct. 29, when the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Calgary Flames 5-2. The Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken played the 39th, the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, on Jan 1. Seattle won 3-0.

The Flyers have played five outdoor games (1-3-1), the Rangers four (4-0-0), and the Devils and Islanders one each (0-1-0, respectively).

"We have a crew of about 16 people, and these are people from all over the U.S., all over Canada," King said. "We actually have a few people from the New Jersey Devils who are going to help us out. If you're looking at the total labor with all the people helping out, we're probably close to 100 on this event. I know there's a lot of focus on the ice, but this is a really big setup so there's a lot of people involved."

In addition to the games, each of the four teams will practice here; the Islanders will practice Feb. 15, and the Flyers, Devils and Rangers at different times the following day.

"So, we'll see the team's practicing two days before gameday, and practice day for the team is kind of practice day for us," King said. "We'll get to kind of fine-tune in the truck, see what our temperature is and how everything is going to work down on the ice."