A number of local Provincial Junior Hockey League (PJHL) teams are ready for a little outdoor hockey.
The Wallaceburg Lakers, Blenheim Blades, Wheatley Sharks, Lakeshore Canadiens, Petrolia Flyers, and Amherstburg Admirals will play in the first ever Outdoor Shinny Series at Lanspeary Park in Windsor this weekend.
"I was thinking about it because all these other NHL teams are doing it," said Darryl Lucio, President of Hockey Operations for the Wallaceburg Lakers. "So I talked to Wes [Ewer] down in Amherstburg and he was definitely interested in playing an outdoor game with us. So then me and him talked, we were going to set something up, and then the league got involved, and made it a huge weekend."
Lucio said they've been working on this since the summer, and most teams were on board with the idea.
"Everybody was really open to it. There's a couple teams that don't want to play in it, not interested, too cold kind of thing, but other than that everybody's really interested in it. We're hoping it turns out great this weekend and we can do it yearly," he said.
Lucio added that tickets are $10, and so far sales have been great.
"Our game is already at 300 tickets sold, when our normal pull right now it only about 100, 100 a home game," he said. "Ticket sales are great, the fans are very excited to see it. It's something new right, no one's ever done it in junior hockey around here."
Lakeshore will play Petrolia at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night, then Wallaceburg and Amherstburg will play at 1:45 p.m. Saturday afternoon, followed by Blenheim and Wheatley at 5 p.m.
