This winter the National Hockey League conducted its fifth annual Outdoor Hockey Winter Classic. The game is played in a baseball or football stadium where a hockey rink is built for one day, usually on New Year’s Day or, in this case, Jan. 2. Two teams play the game that they love and grew up on in front of thousands of people and millions more watching on TV.

This event grows in popularity every year, and the hype around this one game is enormous due to the magnitude of the sport going back to its roots. Back in the 1970s and 80s, hockey was as popular as football and baseball in America and competed for the passion that fans bring to those sports. Back then, outdoor games were regularly scheduled and fans loved watching those events.

What makes this event so special now is that after the lockout in 2004 the sport lost a lot of dedicated and passionate fans. Hockey is played on ice, and for a lot of kids growing up hockey lived on outdoor rinks, and kids would spend all day and night on the ice, skating and playing hockey.

The NHL decided five years ago to go back outside for one day for one game to be played in front of thousands of people in an outdoor stadium like they did decades ago. There is something magical about watching an outdoor hockey game and the idea has really caught on. Events are now being set up in stadiums and ballparks in cold winter places all around the country.

On Jan. 2 the fifth NHL Outdoor Winter Classic was played between the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. The Winter Classic always sets up games between rival teams or at least two “Original Six” teams due to the rich history these teams have collected over the years.

The event has gained so much hype that HBO even took part in it this year by shooting a four-week documentary on the two teams playing in the Classic and giving a behind-the-scenes look at life inside a hockey club and the buildup to the outdoor event. The Rangers and Flyers have had a heated rivalry between each other, with years of hatred and anger well before this one event.

Now I myself am a huge hockey fan from New York, and I grew up a New York Rangers fan through my dad and his parents. We cherish the sport, and growing up I remember going out in the winter, skating outside and playing hockey with my dad. As a Rangers fan, take my word for it, we do not like the Flyers and their fans at all.

Just a regular season game between the two is always special to watch, and now that they were playing in a nationally televised game with documentary cameras watching their every move for a month, this game was more important to us as fans than ever.

The game was played in the late afternoon into the evening, and with slightly overcast skies it could not have been a more perfect day. It was a hard-fought game between the bitter rivals, and in the end the Rangers came out on top 3-2 after a late-game penalty shot and some heated play.

Even in Ohio the idea of an outdoor hockey game has caught on. The Ohio State Buckeyes took on the Michigan Wolverines this past Sunday at Progressive Field. The stadium was full, and in front of more than 25,000 cold and passionate fans the two teams played to a 4-1 victory by the Wolverines.

The game was a fun-filled event where snowball fights took place and a college rivalry bigger than the sport took place and fans got to enjoy a great day. Two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin was there to drop the ceremonial puck and the OSU marching band performed Script Ohio on ice after the first intermission.

Through the success of the Winter Classic the NHL will continue to put fans in awe of how wonderful the game of hockey really is, and I will continue to enjoy watching the annual outdoor game as a happy and proud fan of this great sport.