Sabres, Pens set outside on Jan. 1

The game at Ralph Wilson Stadium is expected to attract 74,000 fans.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman formally added an outdoor game to the 2007-08 season Monday as a way to take hockey out into the elements and “have some fun.”

The New Year’s Day game between the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins is expected to break league attendance records by attracting 74,000 hardy fans to Ralph Wilson Stadium, the Buffalo Bills’ home field in suburban Orchard Park.

“There is something very special about taking hockey out into the elements, back to its roots, back to the place where so many boys and girls first learned to love the game,” Bettman said on the football stadium’s bright green turf, which will be transformed by way of a costly, complicated process into an ice rink.

Refrigeration system

Preparation, which includes installing a refrigeration system to make the ice, will start the day after the Bills’ Dec. 23 home game. Dan Craig, the NHL’s ice expert, will oversee the installation.

Buffalo was chosen for its dependably cold winters and proximity to Pittsburgh, whose fans are expected to make the 225-mile trip in droves. The NHL already is making plans to organize bus excursions and hold hotel rooms.

“The average temperature in the beginning of January, end of December is 25 degrees,” Bettman said. “That’s exactly what we’re hoping for. A little overcast ... We prefer that there be no lake-effect snow or any other precipitation.”

A normal Jan. 1 snowfall in Buffalo is about a tenth of an inch, according to National Weather Service records. Temperatures have varied from 0 degrees in 1970 to 63 in 1985.

Sabres goalie Ryan Miller was in net for Michigan State for its 2001 outdoor “Cold War” with Michigan, when shadows and wind were unique challenges.

“I got off the ice after that game and I was red in the face windburned and my toes were frozen,” Miller said. “I’m hoping I learned a little bit and can make some adjustments and figure out how to stay warm.”

Penguins excited

Penguins President David Morehouse said that city’s players were excited by the prospect.

“We have a young team so it’s not that long ago that our young players were actually playing on ponds,” he said, “whether it be Sidney Crosby in Canada, Evgeni Malkin in Russia or Ryan Whitney in the United States ... so they’re very excited and enthusiastic.”

Bettman said the NHL will pick up the tab for the event, expected to hit “well into the seven figures.” A contingency plan is in the works in case the weather does not cooperate.

The league’s only previous outdoor non-exhibition game drew 57,167 fans to Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium for a Canadiens-Oilers matchup in November 2003.

“We were overdue for another one but we needed the right place, the right teams and the right time and we found them all,” Bettman said. NBC will broadcast the game in the United States and CBC will televise it in Canada. “Plain and simple, we are doing this to have some fun.”

Tickets, ranging from $29 to $225, were scheduled to go on sale at 10 a.m. today.