The NHL meets Lake Tahoe: How the league will pull off outdoor games on picturesque golf course

For many NHL players, their earliest hockey memories involve skating through the open air over a frozen pond or lake, freshly fallen snow on the ground. No lines, no whistles. Just nature.

That romanticism, coupled with the capitalism of a professional sports league, birthed a made-for-television, groundbreaking event: two games – the Colorado Avalanche vs. the Vegas Golden Knights on Feb. 20 and the Boston Bruins vs. the Philadelphia Flyers the next day – in Lake Tahoe.

Played on the 18th fairway of a golf course in an undeniably picturesque setting, the event was made possible by the circumstances of a pandemic and dozens of individuals who saw the effort through. Through some of their perspectives, this is how the Lake Tahoe games came to be, and what viewers can expect this weekend.

The spark

One man is the answer for how the NHL and Lake Tahoe became possible: Jon Miller.

"Guilty as charged," the NBC Sports executive told USA TODAY Sports.

NBC has broadcast the American Century Championship, a celebrity golf tournament, from the Edgewood Tahoe resort since 1990. Three-plus decades of relationships in Lake Tahoe, combined with more than 15 years of experience in dealing with the NHL — including the start of the annual Winter Classic — made Miller the ideal middleman.

Discussions between Tahoe officials and the league started in November and continued into December.

“Clearly, this year, with the pandemic and COVID and everything else, the NHL was forced to pivot and not have an NHL Winter Classic, per se,” Miller said. “So they were in the process of looking to do an outdoor event in February. They had identified a couple of different venues.”

Sites in Utah (Park City) and Minnesota had been considered, league officials told him. He then suggested Lake Tahoe.

“I said, ‘It’s an unbelievably beautiful place with a beautiful setup. They don’t have a rink, but they have a beautiful area — a golf course right next to the lake — that I think could be an incredible venue,” he said. “And you guys are magicians at creating outdoor rinks and outdoor facilities.

“If you haven’t looked at it, you should take a look at it.”

The mastermind

Steve Mayer became known as "mayor of the bubble" during the 2020 playoffs. And it was during that time the NHL's chief content officer and his team began discussing remote possibilities, since fans likely wouldn’t have to be considered.

On Oct. 1, three days after the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup, a group that didn’t include Mayer embarked on an expedition to Lake Louise in Canada’s Banff National Park.

Lake Louise was the NHL’s first choice, Mayer said. Local restrictions regarding construction and signage – sponsorship dollars being the driving economic factor to hold the event – made it impossible.

“It really does come down to showing a Bridgestone logo or a Honda logo,” Mayer told USA TODAY Sports. “We wouldn’t have been able to do that at all at Lake Louise … but it was the impetus to say, ‘OK, it doesn’t work here, but it will work somewhere else.’”

That “somewhere else,” following the advice of Miller, led the league more than 1,000 miles south to Lake Tahoe.

“We first looked on Google Earth,” Mayer said. “In this day and age, it’s amazing how differently you have to operate. We have always been used to, especially with our outdoor games, you probably go to the stadium 20 times before the game.”

The golf course, on the southern shores of the lake in Stateline, Nevada, distinguished itself as the ideal canvas for the league to create its venue. The league office gained a better understanding through FaceTimes and Zoom calls with resort employees on the ground.

“The course during the winter is just a track of land, and it’s just gorgeous,” Mayer said. “The second we saw it and understood how the 17th and 18th holes are just literally on the shore … you slice a ball, it’s in the water.”

While Edgewood Tahoe will host the games, players and NHL staff will stay at nearby Harveys, where the league bought up one entire tower to create a bubble-like atmosphere, although no fences will be constructed around the property like the league did last summer.

A group of eight, including Mayer, made a scouting trip to Tahoe in December. He called Gary Bettman from the projected rink position and told the commissioner: “OK, we’re good to go. Let’s do it.”

“Believe me, it was one of those things where it didn’t take much once we saw the location,” Mayer said.

Military flyovers will precede both puck drops. A local artist, Aurora Gooch, will perform the national anthem Saturday from a surprise, nearby location and Green Day will release a new song, “Here Comes the Shock.” On Sunday, Pentatonix will sing the national anthem remotely and a performance from country star Brett Eldridge will air.

If this experiment, sans fans, is successful, would the NHL consider an event at a remote location with limited spectators in the future? Even in a post-pandemic world where gatherings are possible?

“My commissioner would probably be upset with me for saying this,” Mayer said, “but I’m going to say it anyway: Yeah, I think if this was successful, that we would take a long, hard look at adding this to the events schedule.”

Around Christmas, the NHL gave those in Tahoe official word that they were coming to town.

The host

As the president and CEO of the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, Carol Chaplin never expected her job to intersect with the NHL.

“Everybody asks me, how did that happen? Did you reach out to the NHL?” Chaplin said. “And I would like to say my team and I sat down and went, ‘OK, what could we do that’s really different?’”

While it may not have been Chaplin’s idea, she and her team have been willing partners throughout the process.

Paramount was the ease of access in order to construct the rink.

“They wanted this outdoor experience to be in the mountains, in the trees, on the lake,” Chaplin said. “But in a lot of places in Lake Tahoe, that would be pretty hard to get your equipment to. In this case, having a world-class golf course right on the lake and having all of those features to complement the games and those incredible teams -- that was a pretty special circumstance. So the stars aligned there.”

As an international travel destination, Tahoe’s economy has taken a hit over the last 11 months but the event is giving residents something to look forward to.

Chaplin expected more pushback regarding coronavirus fears.

“Actually, I didn’t get that,” she said. “I got overwhelming enthusiasm for the event … (it was) so different of a thought process for us that I think everyone is really overwhelmed with, ‘I want to see how this works.’”

The major disappointment, she added, came from those who wanted to volunteer – like they do annually at the golf tournament – but are unable to due to safety measures.

In addition to health considerations, environmental mindfulness made Chaplin comfortable with welcoming the NHL, as the water clarity of Lake Tahoe is always top of mind for community leaders. The league's construction plans offered little reason to worry.

“Projects don’t go through unless there’s been satisfaction of our environmental authorities, and this has been meeting those (standards),” she said. “That’s something that is really important about this. Environmentally, from our perspective, this event will have little impact.”

The domain master

As a hockey fan, Brad Wunderlich has noticed the NHL players who made their way to Tahoe for the celebrity tournament – Washington Capitals forward T.J. Oshie and Hall of Fame goalie Grant Fuhr, to name a few.

Wunderlich is the director of grounds and agronomy at Edgewood, and his main concern weeks before the games was the amount of snow (nearly four feet) that fell in the area three weeks before the game. The NHL relied on Wunderlich and his staff for snow removal to prep for rink construction, and it will be up to him to make sure the setting remains scenic.

“Fresh snow on the ground, I think that’ll kind of hide the fact that it’s on a golf course and will kind of make it look like it’s out in the wilderness next to a lake,” Wunderlich told USA TODAY Sports.

Warmer weather followed the downfall, and the snow has melted quite a bit. Friday’s forecast calls for light snow showers, and organizers are hopeful it can provide cover around the rink.

Two fairway bunkers were covered to build the rink, and Wunderlich said avoiding the contamination of “that nice white bunker sand that we use” will be among his biggest worries.

Otherwise, he and the Edgewood team were ready to assist the NHL with whatever they needed.

“We’ve still been fairly busy in our hotel. We’re still able to operate with some restrictions,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of drive-up traffic from California to get out of the really restricted areas and go enjoy the outdoors and the skiing and everything. I would say (the staff) is pretty excited. Everyone is really looking forward to it.”

The builder

The size of Lake Tahoe, 192 square miles, means it won’t freeze over during the winter. Otherwise, Derek King could have instructed his team to build some boards in the shape of a rink, draw some lines and call it day.

It’s not really that simple, anyway.

King, responsible for the rink build in Tahoe and the senior manager of NHL facilities operations, gets goosebumps with each outdoor event.

“This one’s special,” he told USA TODAY Sports.

Whereas the builds King normally leads take place inside of a football or baseball stadium, a golf course is a different type of challenge. Building began on Feb. 6, and the icemaking process began Friday and will continue until the day before teams practice on the surface (Feb. 19), leaving enough time to manicure the 2-inch-thick sheet.

“We have our schedule pretty much down pat right now from the day we move into the site up until practice day,” King said, “so the timeframe hasn’t really changed.”

If anything, the open area has allowed King’s team to move faster.

“I’m not going to say it’s an easier build, but it’s a little quicker,” he said.

The rink isn’t the only structure being built. BaAM Productions is responsible for building the surrounding media risers, dressing rooms and viewing booths for personnel on-site. It’s a coordinated effort, said King.

There’s a local flavor to the build, with a nearby plumbing and pipe-fitting crew working the site. The entire crew, BaAM included, is tested daily for coronavirus, and King has split the 10-member ice crew into two groups – one during the day and one that will start at 5 p.m. and work through the night. That way, in the event of someone becoming infected, some of the crew can finish the job.

“The views are amazing. It’s pretty tough to work, actually,” King said. “You got the mountains and the ski hills, the resort here is beautiful. It’s definitely an exciting place to be. It’s going to look amazing. I think this is truly going to be one of the most unique games.”

The players

For all of the planning and building, the players on the four teams in Tahoe have the final task of performing – something they are looking forward to, for reasons that include both excitement and nostalgia.

Growing up in Quebec City, Jonathan Marchessault developed his passion for the game by playing outdoors.

“Good memories,” the Golden Knights forward said. “It’s probably my favorite memories from my childhood, going out there and playing. Pack a lunch and come back probably nine hours later in the house, and you’re pretty cold, but it’s all worth it.”

Gabriel Landeskog remembered late nights spent at the outdoor rink under the lights with his father.

“It’s just very pure,” the Avalanche captain said. "You hear the wind howling around you. Just very unique memories, special memories, especially that time on the rink with my old man. … That’s definitely part of it, where I fell in love with the game.”

“The views we’re going to have – I’m almost excited for the first practice, just taking it all in,” Golden Knights captain Mark Stone said. “It’s kind of going to feel like we’re getting away from civilization for 48 hours, just being out there, not really seeing anybody but each other.”

Outdoor games are normally an experience players can share with their families, whether it’s during practice the day before or after the game. That won’t be the case this weekend due to COVID-19 precautions, yet the Bruins’ Brad Marchand thinks the spectacle alone will be satisfactory for the players.

“There’s probably not going to be (another) time when you’re playing a team with a backdrop like that,” Marchand said. “You got to make it what you can during these times.”

That line of thinking is exactly how the NHL arrived in Lake Tahoe.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lake Tahoe NHL game: How league will play outdoor games on golf course