From NHL.com’s Craig Merz:
The NHL will go all-in on the bitter rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan when the 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series is held at Ohio Stadium on March 1.
Dean Matsuzaki, executive vice president for NHL events, learned quickly how the matchup of the Columbus Blue Jackets, in their first outdoor game, and the Detroit Red Wings, in their fifth, will evoke emotions usually associated between the two neighboring schools.
He and his staff arrived two days prior to the football game between Ohio State and Marshall on Saturday to go over planning and coordination at the 102-year-old stadium.
“We’ve learned the passion here, and we’ve learned how much people want to beat a team from up in Michigan as well. There’s been a lot of that there,” Matsuzaki said. “We’ve heard about the crossing out the M’s on campus and things like that and somebody mentioned to me about crossing out D’s for our game. So that was pretty interesting.”
It’s a tradition the week before the annual Michigan football game to cross out all the M’s on campus signs and buildings. And, if you’re a true Buckeye, you never say “Michigan.” It’s always “That Team Up North.”
Matsuzaki can envision that type of environment for the Blue Jackets and Red Wings game considering it’s about a three-hour drive from Detroit.
The capacity has not been set, he said, but the fact that Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor had 105,491 for the Winter Classic between the Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs on Jan. 1, 2014, will be a motivation to fill Ohio Stadium.
Update: The Columbus Dispatch’s Brian Hedger and Bill Rabinowitz also spoke with the NHL:
After sending league representatives for site visits during the Buckeyes’ football season last year and again in the spring, not long after officially announcing the game against the Detroit Red Wings, the NHL was back in Columbus this week. Dean Matsuzaki, the league’s executive vice president of events, arrived Thursday for another visit that culminated with Ohio State’s game Saturday against Marshall.
Matsuzaki helped plot things such as rink placement and where the NHL’s “ice plant” will be set up nearly two weeks prior to the game, and he walked through the stadium with representatives from ESPN ― the primary U.S. television rightsholder for the game ― to assess camera angles and seating areas that may need to be blocked off for broadcast purposes.
He also soaked up the full atmosphere of a game day at OSU, from the band’s skull session to the dotting of the ‘i’ in script Ohio to other in-game traditions the NHL may mix into the Blue Jackets’ matchup against the Red Wings.
“It’s our third day here now, so we’ve had a lot of planning and operational things the past couple days,” Matsuzaki said prior to the Buckeyes’ game. “Today is now all about game day, front of house, operations in-stadium, traffic, parking and then all the pomp and circumstance, the game presentation … all of that. We’re going to try to lean into all of what Ohio State does and then use it for our game as well and create the ties.”
