When we stepped out on that ice and went through the tunnel, the music was blaring. I've seen it on TV for the last few years and I didn't think I'd ever play in one of these games. When you're out there, it's so different. It's crazy. It took me 10 minutes probably to get into that game and it was just like, we're actually playing hockey out here in a football stadium. Just the experience of that and stepping on that field and seeing all those fans, both Leafs and Sabres, and myself growing up a Leafs fan and now playing for the Sabres. It's kind of cool.
Just getting on that ice and warmups and the whole presentation, it was unbelievable. I think all the guys were in shock. It took us probably 10-15 minutes of the first period just to get into the game. The presentation was unbelievable. They did a great job.
We had no clue it was going to be sold out. We were talking about it a little before if there would be a ton of fans or not. The crowd was unbelievable. You could hear them cheering loud from so far away. And there were a lot of goals scored, so it was a lot of fun.
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I think what I'll take away the most from the weekend is just the experience. I've been talking about it these last two days; it could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a lot of us. You never know when this is going to happen again. Hopefully in the future they do more and more of these outdoor games because I know the fans and the community love it. So do we as players. There's nothing better than bringing back memories of when you were a kid playing on an outdoor rink. That's what it felt like today. It was a lot of fun. It didn't feel like a normal hockey game out of those 82. But it still counts.
Our arrival outfit was kind of a last-minute idea. We had a few other ideas floating around. I thought it was a good idea and I think we pulled it off. There were a couple of different outfits on the team and I think Kyle Okposo had the best one. There were a couple of jokes and laughter before, so it was fun. I know our whole team and all the fans loved it. I haven't looked at my phone or anything yet, so I haven't seen many pictures, but I can't wait to go look at those.
Cody Eakin came up with the idea. We had something else planned out. We were going to wear denim, the Canadian tuxedo, but we saw Tampa Bay do it at the Stadium Series game so we kind of had a last-minute decision, just ordered everything and got it as quick as possible. And it worked out.
It was freezing walking into the stadium dressed like that. But we saw the St. Louis Blues do it at the Winter Classic in Minnesota, wearing beach attire, so it was like, we can do it too. We knew it'd be fun, get a couple of photos. I'm excited to go look at Toronto's outfits too. I think they were steelworkers. I heard before, but I haven't seen them yet either. I'll be excited to go look at that and ours.
I'm still in shock. I remember sitting there during the anthems and all that, seeing fireworks go off. I've never been a part of that in person, so it was just kind of all breathtaking to watch. I was sitting in between Rasmus Dahlin and Mark Pysyk, and they were saying the same thing. We all had a lot of fun. There's a lot of firsts for a lot of these guys. We can't wait to do another one of these, and hopefully it happens next year.
