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AHL Outdoor Classic played in puddles during heavy rain (Video)

Greg Wyshynski
Reign
Reign

There’s a reason outdoor games have swept through the hockey world. Sure, it’s the tremendous financial windfall they bring, it’s also their unpredictability: Two teams, facing the elements in a game that impacts the standings.

Unpredictable elements like, for example, the driving rain that fell on the American Hockey League Outdoor Classic in Bakersfield, Calif. on Saturday night.

The Bakersfield Condors (the Edmonton Oilers affiliate) met the Ontario Reign (the Los Angeles Kings affiliate) at 6 p.m. PT on the football field at Bakersfield College. There was talk during the week that the game could be moved to 1 p.m. due to a rainy forecast, but the show went on for an expected crowd of over 10,000 fans.

Around 4 p.m., there was a light drizzle on falling on the stadium. The rain actually let up during warmups. But as the game began, it fell steadily.

The game looked like this:

And this:

And also this:

As well as this:

In fact, the rain created its own “glow puck” effect:

Even the AHL had to acknowledge the saturated fun:

The precipitation came and went, the ice conditions went from horrible to playable. The game went on.

Bakersfield rallied for two goals in the third period and eventually won the game on overtime on a Griffin Reinhart goal.

The Condors won.

The Reign, appropriately enough, lost.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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