Lightning, Bruins excited to hit Stadium Series ice after early removal of rink covering

TAMPA, Fla. -- When Charlie McAvoy stepped onto the ice at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Saturday, he had a sense of déjà vu. Not because he’d played in previous outdoor games -- which he has, at Fenway Park and Lake Tahoe -- but because of something a little further back in his hockey history.

“That felt like some of the youth rinks I played in when I was a kid, when you just feel like you’re in a bubble,” McAvoy said. “We used to have a bubble that we played in in Freeport, New York. So that’s what it kind of felt like.

“I kept saying, I can’t believe that this is the rink we’re playing this game on tomorrow. When you take the tent off, it’ll feel night and day different, I’m sure.”

He wasn’t alone. Within the usual outdoor-game nostalgia of playing on frozen ponds until dark fell, with the wind and the snow and the frosty breath, there was another element to the practice day before the 2026 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series on Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS): those youth rinks, whether they were in Freeport, New York, or Prince George, British Columbia.

“You felt like you were in a rural town in the north somewhere, playing in the youth hockey rink,” Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “That’s honestly how it felt and it was super cool. The low ceiling … it was awesome.

“We were sitting around talking to the team and we’re like, I can’t believe this roof’s going to come off and we’re going to be in the open air with all these people there.”

Because once Sunday hits, it will look very, very different. The NHL will remove the structure that went up two weeks ago, which has protected the ice from the elements of heat, rain and humidity, exposing the surface to the open air.

And while initially the deconstruction of that structure was set for 6 a.m. Sunday, the weather had cooperated enough that it was pushed back to midnight, and then back further, with elements -- HVAC units, cabling, walls and side walls -- starting to be taken down around 4 p.m. Saturday.

The ice surface got generally good reviews, though it became a little soft for the Bruins, who took the ice in the second session on Saturday. There was a small divot pointed out by Cooper near the penalty boxes at the start of the Lightning’s skate, which was quickly corrected by the ice crew.

“Where that happened, it’s expected,” NHL vice president of facility operations Derek King said. “We fixed it right away, talked to Coop after. It was fine and he understood. So I expect it to be better tomorrow after these skates today.”

But there were no real complaints.

“Ice was great, and you can definitely sense with these stadium games, the atmosphere, the intensity, the excitement all building, and it starts with that first practice,” Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “It’ll be just more excitement to see what everything looks like from the ice tomorrow. Two different experiences.”

Between the skates on Saturday and the game on Sunday, the ice crew will make some small adjustments, with the knowledge gained at the practices. They will fine-tune the ice surface, paying attention to the smallest of details, with ever better knowledge of exactly what the weather is going to be, including those cold temperatures, which could dip into the 30s.

As King said, “It definitely wasn’t what we expected when we were saying, hey, let’s go to Tampa.”

In fact, back in late November when the NHL was filling its trailers with all the gear it would need for two outdoor games in the state of Florida -- the 2026 Discover NHL Winter Classic and the Stadium Series -- there were the tools they knew they would need, the new chiller blending tank, the AC, the de-humification, the structure that would encase the ice in the weeks ahead of puck drop.

Then, they considered the heater.

“What else?” King recalled, of going through the packing checklist. “OK, well, we’ve got to bring our heater. And we’re like, ‘Do we really?’ I’m like, yeah, we need the heater.”

It was a prescient move.

While King did not yet know on Saturday whether or not the NHL would need to warm up the ice ahead of the game, it’s clear that he’s prepared. And it might be needed, with temperatures looking like those far closer to Boston weather than that usually seen in Tampa.

“Looking at the weather tomorrow, it’s colder than we thought,” King said. “So again, we’ll just pay attention to those air temperatures once we’re uncovered and we can make changes. If we have to warm the ice up, we have that capability, we’ll throw heat to it.

“It’s kind of reverse of what we thought we’d have to do.”

King, while chuckling, added, “Bizarre.”

But the unexpectedly cold weather will just add to the ambiance at Raymond James Stadium, to the nostalgia of most of the participants, those from the Northeast and Canada, those for whom playing outside in frigid temperatures is as familiar as lacing up skates.

“I don’t know if in the 13 years I’ve been in Tampa I will feel the temperature as cold in 13 years as it’s going to be tomorrow,” Cooper said. “And this game was meant to be played in cold weather.

“I think for the 65,000 people -- I know a lot of people coming from the north have already experienced this, but there will be a lot of people who haven’t, and for them I’m happy. Because this is what we’ve experienced our entire life, on the frozen pond, outside, playing til dark, and essentially that’s what we’re going to be doing.”