Coors Field will host NHL Stadium Series Game next year

The Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings will play at grassy Coors Field on Feb. 27, 2016, according to an official announcement on Saturday. The game is part of the Coors Light NHL Stadium Series and will feature an old-school rivalry on friendly terrain.

This is a great synergy opportunity for Colorado sports fans, who will get to see the stadium we know and love host, for some, a new sport or new opportunity. It's a match made in heaven. Reports of the previous outdoor NHL games have all been positive. As mentioned before, I don't discriminate; whatever event is happening at Coors Field, especially in winter,  I will attend.  It'll be weird to see Coors flooded in ice and different angles set up for the viewing of a professional hockey game, but what a cool idea for the game to take place in a ballpark and not Mile High (or whatever it's named now). The opportunity offered for hockey and baseball fans to reach across the aisle in friendship and harmony will be a welcome one, and who knows -- maybe it will give fans of both sports footing in the other's domain.

Hopefully it's cold (but not too cold); late February can result in some pretty decent weather in Colorado, or it could be 20 degrees below zero. I'm sure there's a plan either way.

The fact that it's the Avs and Wings rekindling the old rivalry is cool as well. The rivalry between the squads of the late-1990s/early-2000s was one of the finest in sports. It began with those Wings laying down a dirty hit on Alexei Gusarov in the Western Conference Finals of the 1996 Stanley Cup Playoffs. From there the rivalry grew as the Avs upset the Wings in that series and the two teams proceeded to exchange blows over the next decade.

The rivalry has since cooled, but like I said, I'll watch anything at Coors Field, especially the great game of hockey. Now I'll have some common ground with most of my office mates, and perhaps we can finally enjoy a sporting event together!

So mark your calendars for Feb. 27, 2016. Avs. Wings. Coors. Everybody wins.