The National Hockey League will start hosting a series of Centennial festivities in the new year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the league’s first games.
The celebration will officially begin in Toronto with the Scotiabank NHL Centennial Classic outdoor game featuring the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs.
The NHL Centennial Fan Arena — a traveling fan experience across North America — will be launched at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto on Dec. 31, and one thing fans can expect to experience is the Clear the Ice Zamboni VR experience. It lets fans compete in a race to resurface the ice. Fans sit down in a mini-Zamboni ice resurfacers and are tasked with creating the perfect sheet of ice.
UPDATE: The Zamboni VR experience was created by STRIVR Labs.
We partnered with the @NHL to create a VR Zamboni driving experience. Fans loving the ability to clear the ice. #CentennialClassic #NHL100 https://t.co/AB1HSERQp4
— STRIVR Labs (@STRIVRlabs) January 2, 2017
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After the opening weekend in Toronto, the traveling arena will head to these following locations:
January 6-7: Arizona
January 12-14: Dallas
January 18-19: San Jose
January 21-23: Anaheim
January 26-29 Los Angeles (2017 NHL All-Star)
February 3-5: St. Louis
February 11-12: Nashville
February 24-25: Pittsburgh
The NHL is also launching the microsite NHL.com/100 as the hub for all NHL Centennial news, content, videos and images on Jan. 1.
The 100 Greatest NHL Players will be a main feature of the Centennial content available on the site with original video vignettes for each player that feature rare footage. The first 34 members of the 100 Greatest NHL Players who played primarily during the NHL’s first half century (1917-1966) will be announced Jan. 1.