NHL announces two-day outdoor Fan Village surrounding Kraken's Winter Classic game – The Seattle Times

Fans in and around the T-Mobile Park site of the Jan. 1 outdoor NHL Winter Classic will have plenty to do before the Kraken take to the ice against the Vegas Golden Knights. 
The league announced Thursday that a free, two-day outdoor Enterprise NHL Fan Village will open Sunday afternoon on Dec. 31 at the Lumen Field North Parking Lot after the Seahawks’ game against Pittsburgh and run until 8 p.m. It will then reopen Monday morning on Jan. 1 from 9-11:30 a.m., leading into the Winter Classic, and then from 3-7 p.m. after the outdoor contest.
This follows an announcement Wednesday that the NHL’s network partner TNT and Bleacher Report will host a smaller outdoor fan-themed Open Ice Breakaway Event across the street from T-Mobile Park on Jan. 1 only at the Hatback Bar & Grille at the Boxyard.
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The larger, NHL-run event will have a variety of interactive hockey displays, skills contests with prize giveaways, a mobile hockey museum and photo opportunities that include one with an on-display Stanley Cup. There will also be ample locations to buy merchandise and souvenirs, including limited-edition sketches by artist S. Preston — who will also have some of his other NHL-licensed artwork on display but not for sale. 
Fans can partake in several sponsored shooting competitions, including a Ticketmaster-run Bullseye Battle where they fire a wrist shot at a designated target. Great Clips has a competition for the hardest slap shot. NHL Network has a setup where fans can shoot at inflatable targets, while Verizon has a shooting accuracy challenge to see whether they have “an NHL caliber shot,” and the Washington Lottery will have fans firing pucks at a stacked washer-and-dryer unit. 
Navy Federal Credit Union also has a “Hockey Shot Challenge” for fans to test their shooting range and accuracy. Honda is running a “Goalie Power Play” game, inviting fans to “show off their hockey skills” and win prizes. 
Some of the interactive displays include “AWS Interactive Ice,” where fans can place electronically enabled pucks on hot spots across a digital hockey rink to activate various hockey plays from the past, as well as statistics. The activation uses NHL Edge IQ and explores the technology offering deeper insights into the modern game.
Jersey Mike’s features an “interactive gaming experience” with digital air hockey and submarine sandwich sampling.
Upper Deck has a location where fans can get a personalized Winter Classic trading card, as well as partake in card-themed games such as Pack Wars and Box Hockey. And Discover has a starting lineup experience with an AI photo opportunity where fans can place their face on a custom collectible. 
The mobile museum has a United By Hockey interactive exhibit featuring displays celebrating the game’s trailblazers, changemakers and business leaders. 
Admission is free but fans must register in advance at the NHL.com/FanVillage website. If the Seahawks game is flexed off its 1 p.m. start time, the village will be open only on Sunday instead of both days. 
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