Staying warm a challenge for Canadian juniors in outdoor game against Americans
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Team Canada captain Dillon Dube had to pause briefly and pick at his jersey to try to count all the layers he’d put on before hitting the ice at New Era Field.
“I have three on right now,” said Dube, adjusting his tuque in the media room at the home of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. “I’m a guy who doesn’t wear anything, really, so right now I’m getting pretty hot. But overall out there I was pretty cold. I was going to put on a facemask but I just couldn’t do it.”
The Canadians had to figure out how to stay warm, keep the sun out of their eyes and deal with snow flurries as they practised Thursday for the first outdoor game in world junior hockey championship history. A tournament record crowd of over 40,000 was expected to brave the winter weather on Friday afternoon to watch Canada play the United States.
Layering up or even placing hand warmers in strategic areas were some of the tactics the Canadians employed to battle the cold as temperatures hovered around -10 C before the wind chill.