Charlotte Checkers practice at Truist Field ahead of Queen City Outdoor Classic
Behind Zac Dalpe’s childhood home in Paris, Ontario, his grandfather used a bulldozer to dig a pond.
The Charlotte Checkers’ captain said he grew up on the ice that covered it. He remembers pulling all-nighters to skate around that pond every New Year’s Eve. He and his friends would have “next goal wins” competitions and pretend it was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
When the Checkers host the Rochester Americans in the Queen City Outdoor Classic on Jan. 13 at Truist Field, many members of Dalpe’s family will be in attendance. That includes his father, who worked closely with Dalpe throughout his hockey career and watched him grow up skating on outdoor rinks.
“The whole thing is pretty special,” Dalpe told The Observer after the Checkers held an outdoor practice Monday night. “And to do it in Charlotte, such a beautiful city, it’s gonna be fun.”
Dalpe and his teammates stepped onto the ice at Truist Field on Monday, split in the Checkers’ red and white practice sweaters. Green and red holiday-inspired lights lined the concourses with the uptown skyline lit up behind right-center field.
Outdoor hockey comes with its unique circumstances. In addition to the different lighting and temperature, it can be harder to move the puck as there’s more snow in the ice, head coach Geordie Kinnear said.
“Being outside in general puts everyone back to a place where they’ve been in their young careers,” Kinnear told reporters. “It’s just back to your roots.”
When Kinnear — a longtime minor-league player and coach who briefly played for the Atlanta Thrashers — was growing up in Ontario, his father built a rink on a soccer field. He remembers using chain-link fences as goals. The quality of the ice was “terrible,” he said, and grass even popped through the bottom of it.
Charlotte (10-7), which fell to eventual champion Hershey in the second round of last spring’s AHL playoffs, currently sits sixth out of eight teams in the AHL’s Atlantic Division. The Checkers will see Hershey for the first time since then this weekend, as they host the Bears at Bojangles Coliseum at 7 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday.
“This is unbelievable,” Dalpe said. “That’s how I grew up. It goes back to my roots, for sure.”
