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With the Christmas break upon us, and the Winter Classic at Boston's Fenway Park just barely over a week away, I decided now was as good a time as any to publish my proposal for the 2011 Winter Classic. There are rumors swirling around various media outlets, claiming that the NHL is considering having two outdoor games on New Years 2011. I see absolutely no reason why my proposal, that is being unveiled today, should not be one of those two games.
At this point, you're likely asking why a Stars blog would be discussing Winter Classic possibilities. After all, it was 70 degrees yesterday (though it is supposed to drop back down to normal winter temperature for the holidays, supposedly). Next week, it's Boston/Philly at Fenway. The times before, the Blackhawks hosted the Red Wings and the Sabres hosted the Pens. It all started with the "Heritage Classic" in Edmonton, with the Oilers and Canadiens, in 2003... Why's it always got to be northern teams having all the fun?
I propose that the Dallas Stars become the first southern NHL team to participate in a Winter Classic. Understanding that freezing weather isn't always a given for North Texas on New Years Day, and taking into account the 26 years of history this franchise enjoyed before moving to the Lone Star State 16 years ago, it only makes sense for the Stars to play their outdoor game in the great state of Minnesota, with the Wild acting as the host franchise. A Winter Classic matchup between the Stars and the Wild in Minnesota would be a celebration of the sport in one of the most historic regions for American hockey as a whole. (Plus, it's really the only natural answer to the question, "Which northern team can I pick, so the Stars have a chance to play in a Winter Classic before the novelty completely wears off?")
Once I had the teams and location chosen, it was time to select a venue. Minnesota, interestingly enough, will have two brand new open-air stadiums in time for the Winter Classic in 2011. MLB's Minnesota Twins will be opening Target Field this season, while the Golden Gophers' football team have the brand new TCF Bank Stadium. Both venues have their pros and cons. TCF Bank Stadium has much larger capacity, but is located on a college campus with a trickier parking situation. Target Field has a smaller capacity, a less natural shape, but a much more manageable location with ample parking. I chose Target Field, putting the Winter Classic in a baseball stadium for the third season in a row.
With the venue all squared away, it was time for me to create a logo for the event. With both teams having such strong ties to the State of Minnesota, my inspiration was obvious. I started out with an outline of the state, and added imagery from the logosets of the home team Wild. Being a winter game, I decided it would be clever to change the trees to a snow white... The logo is nothing special or overly innovative, but I think it fits the event rather well, and I'm proud of how it turned out.
With the logo all squared away, it was time to move on to everyone's favorite part of the Winter Classic. The uniforms. Traditionally, teams have worn throwbacks (or in Boston's case, throwback-inspired hybrid uniforms). For Dallas, it was obvious that North Stars uniforms were a must. Then it struck me. The Minnesota Wild are 9 years old. They really don't have much of a history to draw from, and they already wear "vintage inspired" uniforms as their regular get-up. Luckily, while the Wild don't have much of their own history, the Twin Cities are rich in hockey history. It was with this in mind that I decided to base the Minnesota Wild's uniforms loosely on the St. Paul Saints of the 1930's. After seeing the backlash from the barberpole throwbacks that Montreal has graced us with, I knew a straight adaptation wouldn't go over very well. I took the liberty of taking the best parts of the Saints sweaters and bringing them up to date with a few simplifications. I hope you enjoy them, as I did about 50 versions of this sweater, trying to get something that worked.
With the Wild properly outfitted in historically appropriate duds, it was time to decide what our Stars should be wearing. The North Stars had several memorable and popular uniforms for me to choose from, but I decided to take this rare opportunity to play revisionist history, like the Bruins, who took aspects from multiple uniforms in their past when designing their Winter Classic uniforms. I took the basic late 60's expansion uniforms and merged them with the Gund-era uniforms with the outlined shoulder yoke. (Check my Uniform History Project on the menu bar above, if you want a refresher course on this stuff.) What I ended up with was arguably the sexiest looking uniform in Winter Classic history. They'd sell like hot cakes.
Tell me that doesn't look good and I'll punch you in the mouth for lying. At this point in my design process, I felt comfortable posting the entire proposal on this site. I finished this much over a week ago, but didn't want to post it all too early. That gave me a little extra time to mess around with stuff, and I ended up messing around with the rink graphic that I used in the Target Field seating chart above. Definitely not an important addition to this proposal, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to throw it in too.
As far as the festivities surrounding the game, I'm sure the NHL, the Wild, the Twins, and the Stars could all come up with some great ideas. Maybe an alumni game with old North Stars and old Team USA veterans, or possibly former Stars against former Gophers in an old-timers game. The possibilities are endless when a match-up makes as much sense as the Stars versus the Wild in Minnesota.
I originally had hoped to post a second "joke" proposal for a Stars Winter Classic... this one hosted in Dallas, but I ran out of time and with my work schedule around the Holidays, I don't know when or if I'll ever finish it up. It revolved around the idea of the Stars hosting the Phoenix Coyotes in an outdoor roller hockey game, on the spot where Reunion Arena used to stand (if they ever finish cleaning it up). I even toyed with the idea of giving Phoenix some sublimated blood stains on the front of their uniforms, as an homage to Jeremy Roenick... but alas, that's another idea for another day.
Hope you enjoyed this... and I hope you have a Merry Christmas, everyone. Go Stars.
(To Gary Bettman, and the NHL higher-ups: Make this happen. The Stars and Wild may not have the star power of a Crosby or an Ovechkin, but we deserve an outdoor game too!)
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