St. Louis Blues Players Show Up In Beach Apparel For 'Coldest NHL Game Ever'

If you're a fan of layering and hockey, the 2022 NHL Winter Classic may fit your definition of "cool."

The New Year's matchup on the ice between the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues was held held at Target Field — home of the MLB's Minnesota Twins. Per the long-standing tradition of the Classic, the contest is held at a venue generally reserved for a football or baseball team.

St. Louis broke the game open with a five-goal second period and held on for a 6-4 victory.

Conditions in Minnesota on Saturday were in the negatives -- by the third period, it was 10 below -- and the weather soon became a problem as the ice on the field got too cold, prompting NHL crew members to start warming up the ice ahead of the matchup.

St. Louis Blues players appeared fairly chill over the weather, showing up in flip flops and beach shorts in their commute to the venue.

As relayed by Fox 9 News, the procedure stems from ice gradually becoming fragile as conditions plunge in the minus, requiring a heating system to be implemented to calibrate the ideal temperature for the ice.

The NHL released a statement on what they deemed "the coldest NHL game in history."

"The floor of the Winter Classic ice rink is made of 283 aluminum ice pans. A mobile refrigeration unit pumps glycol through pipes to the pans and back to the truck to transfer heat… When the air temperature is above the optimum ice temperature, the glycol and aluminum pans transfer heat away from the ice. But when the air temperature is below the optimum ice temperature, it transfers heat to the ice."

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