On February 21st, 2021, the Flyers are expected to face off against the Boston Bruins in an outdoor game at Lake Tahoe. The Edgewood Tahoe Resort will be hosting a two-day outdoor hockey showcase featuring four NHL teams. The Colorado Avalanche and Las Vegas Golden Knights will play on February 20th. The games will reportedly occur on the golf course around the 16th, 17th, and 18th holes.

While nothing has been confirmed officially, Friedman isn’t wrong often. He has referred to the event as the “Mystery Alaska experiment”, a reference to the 1999 film featuring Russell Crowe, in which the small town of Mystery, Alaska hosts the NHL’s NY Rangers for an exhibition game (but don’t be fooled by its rotten tomatoes rating of 37%, it’s an iconic hockey movie that’s an essential watch for any hockey fan).

My immediate reaction to hearing the news was, “Outdoors? Fantastic, I’ll book my flight right now!” But unfortunately for me and just about everyone else who shared that thought, there will be no fans in attendance at Lake Tahoe. The number of people in attendance is limited to 400 and that will filled by both teams’ players and personal, and by broadcasters.

This game will be the Flyers fifth outdoor game in their history, and after going 1-2-1 in their previous four games, hopefully the orange and black can improve that record in Lake Tahoe. While they’ve only participated in four outdoor games, this will be the second time the Flyers play Boston. The last time these two played each other outdoors was at the Fenway Park Winter Classic in 2010, the Flyers lost 2-1. Flyers fans can only hope that the team will still be riding the high of their 4-3 overtime victory against Pittsburgh at Lincoln Financial Field as they prepare to battle the Bruins. The stadium series game took place on February 23rd, 2019, almost exactly two years prior to this game versus Boston.

With the start of the NHL season less than two weeks away, there’s finally something for hockey fans to look forward to. The Flyers will play their first game back on Wednesday, January 13th against the Penguins at 2:30pm.