Mirabito Outdoor Classic
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| Date | February 20, 2010 | |||||||||||||||
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| Arena | New York State Fairgrounds | |||||||||||||||
| City | Geddes, New York | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 21,508 | |||||||||||||||
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The Mirabito Outdoor Classic, also known as the 2010 AHL Outdoor Classic, was an outdoor ice hockey game played in 2010 between the Syracuse Crunch and Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League (AHL). It was the first outdoor game in the history of the AHL as well as the first outdoor minor league hockey game. Syracuse won the game 2–1 with the help of goaltender Kevin Lalande, who stopped 36 of the 37 Binghamton shots, and Alexandre Picard, who scored the first outdoor goal in AHL history. The game was played in front of a then AHL record crowd of 21,508, on a rink constructed at the New York State Fairgrounds on a dirt auto racing track.
Crunch owner, Howard Dolgon, pursued the ideal of having his team in an outdoor game, but unlike the National Hockey League's (NHL) Winter Classic the Crunch were responsible for funding the entire event. In order to afford the cost of hosting an outdoor game sponsorship deals with several independent organizations were made including Mirabito Energy Products, which lent its name to the title of the event. In part because of his success in putting on the event, Dolgon was awarded the James C. Hendy Memorial Award as the AHL's outstanding executive. Following the success of the Mirabito Outdoor Classic other AHL Outdoor Classics were held by other AHL teams.
In late November 2009 Syracuse Crunch owner, Howard Dolgon began attempts to have an American Hockey League (AHL) outdoor game for his franchise. Cost estimates for hosting the game were close to $1 million. Unlike the National Hockey League's (NHL) Winter Classic, the league did not run the event, meaning the Crunch had to finance the entire project. The high cost of hosting was a reason for other franchises not pursuing outdoor games prior.
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