Like many Canadian-born hockey players, Jacob Micflikier took to the ice at an early age. And when the Hershey Bears forward thinks back to his earliest memories of the sport, biting cold and wind come to mind.

“My first hockey game was outdoors,” Micflikier said. “I remember getting my jersey for it and everything, skating outdoors and practicing at age 5 or 6. All my practices were outdoors when I was younger.”

Micflikier and the rest of his Hershey teammates will return to their skating roots during Friday’s American Hockey League Outdoor Classic between the Bears and Adirondack Phantoms at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

A crowd between 35,000 and 40,000 fans is expected for the 7:05 p.m. game at the home of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Extended weather forecasts say Friday’s game-time temperatures will be in the mid-to-upper 30s, much warmer than Micflikier was used to in his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

“It’s still going to be cold, and the puck is going to be a little bit harder than usual,” Micflikier said. “The ice will be different than we’re used to playing on, and the lights will be different.

“You get used to the sounds of an indoor rink, so the ambiance will be a lot different. But how different will it all be? We won’t really know until we get out there and experience it.”

The Bears will hold a practice at 10 a.m. Wednesday on the outdoor rink at Milton Hershey School, and they are scheduled for a 9 a.m. morning skate Friday on the Citizens Bank Park rink.

'Once-in-a-lifetime deal'

Despite the venue’s size, memories of childhood outdoor hockey will prevail among the majority of Hershey’s players.

“I’m from Grand Forks (N.D.), and every elementary school there has three outdoor rinks,” said Hershey forward Ryan Potulny. “One with boards where you can use sticks and pucks; one without boards, where you can use sticks and pucks; and the other where you can only skate.

“As a kid, every day after school we went straight to the outdoor rinks. Around dinnertime, your parents would bring you chili or bring you money and you’d order some pizza.”

Potulny said any memory of skating and playing outside includes time spent in what he referred to as a warming house, right near the rink.

“It was about the size of a locker room and it was heated,” Potulny said. “There was usually a college kid in there that watched over the place and almost babysat the kids. That’s what I remember from skating outside when I was younger.”

Friday night’s contest will have a slightly more professional feel to it.

“Playing outside in this game, though, is a once-in-a-lifetime deal,” Potulny said, “so I think I’m going to take it all in and enjoy it.”

Stuffed with pillows

Of course, not everyone had a ready-made rink available.

“Living in upstate New York, there really weren’t that many rinks at all, especially near where I lived on a ski mountain,” said Hershey forward Christian Hanson.

Born in Glens Falls, N.Y., Hanson benefitted from having a famous father. His dad – longtime minor leaguer and “Slap Shot” star Dave Hanson – did what he could to help his son learn to skate.

“My dad convinced the township to flood a slab of pavement,” Christian Hanson said. “I don’t even know what it was or how big it was, but he convinced them to flood it during the winters.

“He would take me out there early in the morning, put my sister’s figure skates on me, dress me in snow clothes, stuff me with pillows, pop a helmet on me, put a chair out there and tell me to push it. I was probably 3.”

Hanson’s gear might have improved a bit since then, but he still has the same eagerness about playing outdoors against the Phantoms, a team based in the town where he was born.

“I think this is going to be great,” Hanson said. “It’s great for the sport, the fans and the players. I think we’ll have as much fun as the fans will.”

Mitchell's second in a row

Bears forward Garrett Mitchell played an outdoor game last year in the Western Hockey League, when his visiting Regina Pats beat the Calgary Hitmen, 3-2, at McMahon Stadium. That also was the site of the National Hockey League’s 2011 Heritage Classic between the Calgary Flames and Montreal Canadiens.

“That was a lot of fun,” Mitchell said. “The biggest thing you notice when you’re playing outside is there’s no stands right beside you. You look forward and the stands are so far away from where the boards are.

“Within 15 or 20 minutes you have it down pat, but when you come onto the ice for the first time, you can’t tell how far how everything else is away.”

Mitchell said the Bears’ morning skate on Friday should help the team adjust to its new surroundings.