Alabama, NC State To Play 'Outdoor Classic' Hockey Game In Charlotte

Is there anything better than outdoor hockey? If there is, I can't think of it.

And as cool as it is to see NHLers snapping pucks around on sheets of ice erected in the middle of baseball or football stadiums, we've seen more college hockey teams taking it outside, too.

That's what the Alabama and NC State men's hockey teams will be doing on November 15 in Charlotte when they hit the ice at Truist Field, home of Minor League Baseball's Charlotte Knights, for a game that has been dubbed the "Outdoor Classic."

Now, as you may have noticed, the two teams that will take part in this event are club teams, and both are members of College Hockey South. According to its website, College Hockey South is a 31-school, 48-team non-varsity conference. Some of these schools also field women's teams.

Alabama and NC State are members, as are Auburn, Florida, Florida State, UCF, USF, Georgia, Tennessee, and a bunch of other teams from around the South.

But these two get the nod in Charlotte, and I think this could be shaping up to be a good one. The two teams play each other on November 6 and 7 in Alabama, and then again on November 14 in Raleigh.

Add on November 15 in Charlotte, and that's four straight games in a little over a week for these two teams. 

It might just get a little heated.

Truist Field hosted a handful of college hockey games last season, and the NC State Icepack played in one of them.

The team also played an outdoor game at Carter-Finely Stadium in 2023 on a tame sheet of ice that the Washington Capitals and hometown Carolina Hurricanes used for a Stadium Series game. 

That night, the Icepack hosted North Carolina, and the game drew a stunning 24,000 fans to watch some club hockey, which is so, so cool.