Ever since 2008, an outdoor game has been played around New Year, under the name NHL Winter Classic.
But while there have sometimes been problems with getting the ice cold enough, this year there were opposite concerns.
This year it was unusually cold, even though the coldest forecasts did not materialize.
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Because instead of the promised -24 degrees, it was "only" -20.9 degrees, which was still enough to beat the cooling record from 2003, when it was -18.6 degrees below zero when the puck was released.
And the weather made up for it.
- It was cold for both teams.
The ice bounced for both teams.
But they played us out for 40 minutes, easy.
We did not play smart hockey as we did for most of the year, said Minnesota's Norwegian Mats Zuccarello after the match, according to TSN.
Lightly dressed before the match
So it was St. Louis who was the hottest team in chilly Minneapolis, in front of a staged arena with 38,619 spectators.
St. Louis, whose players left the bus at the arena wearing Hawaiian jerseys and flip-flops on their feet, thus won 6-4.
- It was a nice little trick.
I clearly stayed awake then, says St Louis captain Ryan O'Reilly, who was behind the summer equipment before the match.
- We thought that when we are 50 years old and look back on this, we then want to see pictures of ourselves when we get out of the bus in a suit, or something like that fun, says goalkeeper Jordan Binnington.
A Swedish player joined the scoring: Minnesota's Victor Rask who passed to Rem Pitlick, who from behind the extended goal line hit a puck that bounced on the goalkeeper's helmet and into goal and scored Minnesota's 2-5 goals.