Winter Classic 2026

• Ice hockey registration in Florida is up 212% in the 25-year span from 1999 to 2024. That includes a 16.1% YOY increase in girls hockey participation from 2023 to 2024.
• The 2024-25 campaign will be the sixth straight season with at least eight Florida-born players. A decade ago, there had never been more than two in one campaign.
• The Stanley Cup Final has featured a Florida team in each of the past five years (Panthers 2x; Lightning 3x).
• The Panthers will become the 31st franchise to participate in an NHL outdoor game.
• This is the ninth straight season with at least 20 Florida-born men’s players skating in NCAA Division 1.

• Ice hockey registration in the state of Florida is up 212% in the 25-year span from 1999 to 2024. There were 21,199 registered players in the state last season per USA Hockey (including 1,660 female players), more than triple the amount from the turn of the millennium.
• Registration in girls hockey increased 16.1% YOY from 2023 to 2024. That is part of a 56% growth over the past eight years (since 2016-17). There are 60 dedicated girls’ Learn to Play programs with on-ice programming per year in Florida.
• Florida is also home to the Amerigol LATAM Cup, a premier international hockey tournament supported annually by the Panthers and NHL/NHLPA Industry Growth Fund (IGF). Designed to break barriers and unite non-traditional hockey markets in a thrilling display of skill, passion and camaraderie, the sixth annual event took place in 2024, with more than 1,100 players representing 17 countries across 52 participating teams (a 58% increase in the number of teams from 2023, when 33 teams played in the event).
• As of June 2024, $4 million in NHL/NHLPA IGF grants were awarded to the Panthers, helping to fund various projects including the first synthetic outdoor ice rink in the state (a historic initiative spearheaded by former Lightning and Panthers forward Anthony Duclair)

• The NHL first expanded to Florida over 30 years ago when the Lightning contested their inaugural season in 1992-93 followed by the Panthers playing their first campaign in 1993-94. Both franchises have enjoyed significant success since then, with each of the last five Stanley Cup Final series featuring either Tampa Bay or Florida dating to 2020. The Panthers won the historic 2024 Final to capture their first Cup, while the Lightning joined a rare list of repeat champions in NHL history with their titles in 2020 and 2021 before a defeat in 2022.
• The Panthers reached the Final during their first playoff appearance in 1996, while the Lightning captured the Cup just 12 seasons into their existence in 2004. The 1996 postseason also featured another noteworthy moment in Florida hockey history, with Tampa Bay setting a then NHL attendance record when 28,183 fans flocked to Game 4 of the Conference Quarterfinals at Thunderdome (now Tropicana Field).
• The Lightning and Panthers are playing to 100% and 98% capacity crowds this season, respectively (both above the 96% League average). Florida sold out its season tickets for the first time following its Stanley Cup win.

• The warmest puck-drop temperature for an NHL outdoor game was 65ºF/18ºC in the 2016 Stadium Series at Coors Field in Denver, Colo., on Feb. 27, 2016. Click here to view the temperature of every NHL outdoor game.
• The weather at puck drop has been noted as “sunny” for seven NHL outdoor games. The weather at puck drop is noted for all NHL outdoor games through 2023-24, starting on page 12 of the Winter Classic Guide.
• The state of Florida will become the southernmost hosts of an NHL outdoor game. To date, that distinction belongs to Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas, Texas (32.78 degrees latitude), which welcomed 85,630 fans – the second-largest crowd ever at an NHL game – for the 2020 Winter Classic.
• The Panthers are set to become the 31st franchise to contest an NHL outdoor game. (Florida and Utah will be the only active franchises yet to have played outdoors, through 2024-25.)
• Florida is set to become the 19th U.S. state to host at least one outdoor game. Washington, D.C., and five Canadian provinces have also hosted.

• There are eight Florida-born players in the NHL this season (min. 1 GP entering Dec. 27), including seven who were born after the League began play in the Sunshine State in 1992.
• This season, there are eight Florida-born players in the NHL, more than double the amount from a decade ago. The 2024-25 season will mark the sixth straight campaign with at least eight Florida-born players (the record of 12 was set in 2021-22 and matched in 2022-23). A decade ago, there had never been more than two Florida-born players in any NHL season.
• Bruins forward Andrew Peeke (Parkland, Fla.) is one of those eight Florida-born players. In an ESPN article published during the 2024 Second Round series between the Bruins and Panthers, Peeke shared a story about falling in love with hockey at a skating event hosted by the Panthers.
• The eight Florida-born players in the NHL this season are Andrew Peeke (BOS; Parkland, Fla.), Seamus Casey (NJD; Miami, Fla.), Jakob Chychrun (WSH; Boca Raton, Fla.), Shayne Gostisbehere (CAR; Pembroke Pines, Fla.), Brandon Duhaime (WSH; Coral Springs, Fla.), Garnet Hathaway (PHI; Naples, Fla.), along with Jack Hughes (NJD) and Quinn Hughes (VAN) who were born in Orlando but spent most of their childhood elsewhere.
• Thirty-three Florida-born players have been selected in the NHL Draft, including 21 since the League expanded to the state and 21 since 2016 (nearly two-thirds of the state’s all-time representation in the NHL Draft; 64%, 21 of 33). Among that group is Chase Priskie (No. 177 in 2016), who was part of the Panthers’ Learn to Play program as a child and in 2021-22 became the first player born and trained in Florida to suit up for the franchise.
• The NHL awaits the first Florida-born goaltender to play in a game (two have dressed for a game, but neither played: Zachary Andrews and Kyle Keyser).

• This is the ninth straight season with at least 20 Florida-born men’s players skating in NCAA Division 1. Before 2016-17, there had been only one season all-time with 20+ Florida-born players at the D1 level.
• In 2024-25, the list of Florida-born D1 players in the NCAA includes three recent NHL Draft picks: goaltender Jacob Fowler (Melbourne, Fla.; No. 69 in 2023 by MTL), along with forwards Jake Richard (Jacksonville, Fla.; No. 170 in 2022 by BUF) and Rhett Pitlick (Coral Springs, Fla.; No. 131 in 2019 by MTL).
• Fowler, the highest-drafted Florida-born goaltender in NHL history, helped the United States win a gold medal at
  the 2024 World Junior Championship.
• Pitlick is one of two Florida-born NCAA players whose father played for either the Panthers or Lightning – his dad, Lance, played for the Panthers from 1999-00 to 2001-02 (the other is Lucas Ölvestad, who was born in Tampa when his father, Jimmie, played for the Lightning; Lucas played the bulk of his development years in Sweden).
• Jack Musa and his brother, Joey, are two of the Florida-born NCAA players. Jack, an undrafted forward, finished second in scoring for UMass last season and earn an invite to the Panthers’ development camp in July 2024.

The 2026 Discover NHL Winter Classic® game is scheduled for 8:00 PM on January 2, 2026. South parking facilities will open at 1:30 PM on the day of the Event to accommodate guests wishing to attend the 2026 Enterprise NHL PreGame in West Lot 3 (1680 NW 5th Street, Miami, FL 33125). All other parking facilities should be open by 5:00 PM, and gates to loanDepot park are scheduled to open at 6:00 PM.

Expect heavy congestion around loanDepot park; please plan your travel time accordingly. Police and parking authorities will direct vehicles to the parking facility that best supports traffic conditions during peak ingress times.
Guests wishing to park in a certain parking facility are encouraged to arrive early as spaces are not preassigned and there is no guarantee a specific facility will have availability on the day of the Event. The opportunity to purchase parking on-site will be extremely limited and fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis.

All parking facilities offer ADA-accessible spaces (a parking pass is also required).
To purchase parking Click Here.

A parking pass is required for all on-site parking facilities at loanDepot park on the day of the Event. Passes must be purchased in advance through the Premium Parking website (see link below) to park in one of the four (4) parking garages or three (3) surface lots near loanDepot park.

To purchase parking Click Here.

Each parking pass allows one state-registered vehicle to occupy one standard-size parking space. Oversized vehicles that do not fit within one standard space may not use multiple passes to occupy additional spaces.

Parking passes cannot be purchased or re-sold through third-party platforms; Any pass obtained through unauthorized sites will be invalid at loanDepot park parking facilities.

Please have your digital prepaid parking confirmation email visible when approaching loanDepot park to assist with ease of traffic flow. Vehicles should enter any open parking facility and proceed to any available parking space.

loanDepot park parking facilities use a license plate recognition system instead of physical pass scans or payment collection at entry points.
Your license plate serves as your parking credential – please ensure it is correctly registered to avoid receiving a citation or invoice by mail.

If you know your vehicle’s license plate number at the time of purchase, enter it during checkout. You can modify or update this information any time before the event through the Premium Parking website or link included within the confirmation email.

If you do not know your license plate number when purchasing, select “Don’t know vehicle information?” Next, choose “Remind Me” to receive an email reminder the day before and on the day of the Event to enter your license plate information.

To streamline entry and avoid game day traffic, loanDepot park offers a Park & Ride option for only $15 per vehicle. Attendees can park at the West Lot Garage (220 NW 3rd Street) or Hickman Garage (270 NW 2nd Street) and board complimentary shuttles to the ballpark. Shuttles will drop off and pick up along NW 14th Avenue allowing for a less-than one-block walk to the game.

This service will operate from 1:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.

A detailed map of the Park & Ride option can be found HERE.

For fans traveling from outside Miami, Brightline offers an easy option with complimentary round-trip shuttle service between Brightline MiamiCentral Station and loanDepot park. Fans can book their rides today by visiting GoBrightline.com. Riders should look for the Winter Classic booking icon to secure access within the dedicated trains.

• Train arrivals into MiamiCentral Station: 5:54 p.m. and 6:55 p.m.
• Train departures from MiamiCentral Station post-event: 12:30 a.m. and 1:00 a.m.
• Departure Shuttle Loop from loanDepot park to MiamiCentral Station: 11:45 p.m. – 12:25 a.m.

A detailed map of the Brightline option can be found HERE.

Fans utilizing rideshare will be dropped off and picked up at the designated, geofenced, Rideshare Zones, including East Lot 1 (1380 NW 6th Street) and the corner of NW 13th Ave. & W Flagler Street.

• Rideshare users can follow the in-app directions to navigate to the assigned Rideshare Zones.
• Rideshare usage will be heavy during the event, and potential long wait times should be anticipated and expected.

A map detailing the Rideshare Zones can be found HERE.