NHL 'happy to have' tent over rink during Stadium Series prep 

TAMPA -- The weather forecast for the 2026 Navy Federal Credit Union Stadium Series in Tampa looks perfect for an outdoor NHL game.

The weather leading up to it? Not so much.

And that's why the NHL is building a massive tent, which will be air conditioned, over the rink so the ice is ready when the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins play at Raymond James Stadium on Feb. 1 (6:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS).

"We got the structure completed for our rink covering," Dean Matsuzaki, NHL executive vice president of events, said Friday at the home of NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. "And now today, we're getting going on covering, pulling the vinyl over to start sealing in, and we'll start installing the HVAC units pretty soon.”

The weather on Friday, which saw sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s, is exactly why the NHL is building the tent over the rink. In fact, temperatures are expected to stay in that range for the next several days, which is why the League began the process of putting up the vinyl cover that makes the tent.

“I'm glad we're doing all this, because we're supposed to be north of 80-degree highs, I think, and possibly some precipitation on Monday,” Matsuzaki said. “So I think we'll be happy we have this.”

As the process of covering the rink and installing the ice continues, Matsuzaki says there will be constant monitoring of all the elements of the rink to make sure that the ice stays exactly where it needs to be in terms of temperature and overall condition up until the game.

He added that the temperature inside of the tent will be in the low-to-mid 50s. There will also be large refrigeration-unit trucks that will be feeding coolant to the ice surface and additional HVAC and dehumidification units to help with the ice climate. Unlike other games where just one refrigeration-unit truck would be used with a second one available as a backup, both are being used for this game like they were for the 2026 Discover NHL Winter Classic game in Miami on Jan. 2.

"Our hockey operations group does have monitors in the ice, monitoring temperature and everything," Matsuzaki said. "They're watching it closely. When we start to turn off the HVAC equipment and start taking the canvas off the structure, we will put our tarps over [the ice]. We have reflective, insulated tarps on the ice, so for that time it is exposed until game time, we will have those tarps on until the sun goes down and we'll pull the tarps for the last minute."

The tent will stay for most of next week, but will be removed before the game begins. The process of removing the tent will have to be done section-by-section and take several hours. The Lightning and Bruins will practice inside of the tent on Saturday afternoon.

By then the weather should be much more conducive to playing an outdoor hockey game. The forecast has high temperatures in the lower-to-mid 60s and lows in the 40s for most of the week, including a forecast high of 56 next Sunday according to the 10-day forecast from The Weather Channel website.

"From what I see, you guys are bringing some hockey weather in for us too," Matsuzaki told reporters. "Which will help us a lot."

Joining Matsuzaki at the press conference was Clarie Lessinger, the Senior Vice President of Events for the Tampa Bay Sports Commission. She thanked the NHL and its partners for the creative drive to make the first outdoor game in Tampa happen.

"We've definitely been planting the seed and watering it for many years with the NHL," Lessinger said. “But it does require the innovation, the creativity, but also the ice science and everything that the experts have done to be able to bring this to life in Tampa.

“We love to think outside the box. We, of course, don't judge our success on whether we win an event, it's whether we win it back. And so, this is our opportunity to host this for our first time."