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    Sam Stockton
    Sam Stockton
    Feb 15, 2024, 13:50

    According to multiple reports, the Red Wings are set to play the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2025 Stadium Series at Ohio Stadium

    According to multiple reports, the Red Wings are set to play the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2025 Stadium Series at Ohio Stadium

    Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports - Report: Red Wings to Play Outdoors at the Horseshoe in Columbus in 2025

    According to a report from John Buccigross of ESPN, the Detroit Red Wings are poised to return to outdoor hockey for the 2025 NHL Stadium Series, taking on the Columbus Blue Jackets at Ohio Stadium, better known as the Horseshoe and home of Ohio State Buckeyes football.

    Aaron Portzline—The Athletic's Blue Jackets beat writer—subsequently confirmed this report.

    The NHL has long harbored interest in hosting a game at the Horseshoe, but there had always been a hold-up: the stadium is not winterized and thus the plumbing was not equipped to handle a mid-winter event.  However, with changes to the college football playoff format inviting the possibility of home games on campuses in December and January, Ohio State recently spent—per Portzline—$600,000 to upgrade the heating system in the building.  

    Portzline also reported that the reason this game will be a Stadium Series rather than Winter Classic is that Ohio State does not want a January 1st event distracted from the end of the Buckeye football season.  Last year, however, Ohio State's season ended with a December 29th loss in the Cotton Bowl to the Missouri Tigers, an event Buckeye fans would surely have welcomed distractions from.

    For the Red Wings, this would mark the first outdoor game since January 1, 2017, when Detroit dropped the 2017 Centennial Classic at BMO Field (home of the MLS team Toronto FC) against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

    Prior to that, the Red Wings won the 2009 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field (longtime home of the Cubs) over the Chicago Blackhawks; dropped the 2014 Winter Classic at Michigan Stadium, aka the Big House, in Ann Arbor (also against the Maple Leafs) in the shootout; and won one leg of the 2016 Stadium Series over the Colorado Avalanche at Coors Field (home of the Rockies).  Detroit also played in the NHL's first recorded outdoor exhibition on February 2, 1954, playing against the inmates at Marquette State Prison in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

    An official announcement from the NHL confirming these details should be coming imminently.

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