LOOKING BACK ON THE FROZEN FRONTIER A DECADE LATER
Reliving one of the most iconic moments in franchise history 10 years later
Dec 13, 2023
By Warren Kosel
It had all the makings of a Hollywood script.
The rarest of sporting events between two longtime rivals with storied histories taking the game of hockey back to its purest form in the outdoors. A standing-room only crowd of 11,015 that witnessed more than 60 minutes of unrelenting, edge-of-your-seat action that ended in true storybook fashion with the team captain emerging as the ultimate hero. And, if that wasn’t enough, a climactic finale sealed by a thrilling shootout victory.
With temperatures hovering at around 18 degrees for opening face-off and a fresh coating of snow that blanketed the downtown ballpark-turned-ice rink, the Frozen Frontier was just that. The game itself provided the perfect setting to showcase the American Hockey League in the grandest of spectacles, while giving the players, fans and even the community at large, an experience they will always remember.
“For me, unique events like these bring the game back to its purest form” said then Amerks captain and current Buffalo Sabres assistant coach Matt Ellis, who scored once in regulation and then netted the game-winner in the sixth round of the shootout to cap a stirring 5-4 victory over the North Division rival Lake Erie (Cleveland) Monsters. “This is the start we all got when we were kids and I know for me being one of the older guys on the team it still brings me back to my childhood days playing on the pond or playing in the backyard. I felt like a kid again being able to share this with my teammates.”
But that game was neither on a pond nor a neighborhood backyard. Frontier Field, now known as Innovative Field and traditionally home to minor league baseball’s Rochester Red Wings, was converted to an outdoor ice surface equipped with all the amenities of a standard-size rink. Rochester’s regular season matchup against Lake Erie was the premier event of a 10-day outdoor festival devoted to hockey players of all ages and skill levels to coincide with a schedule of events that featured a slew of college and high school hockey games, as well as the opportunity for the general public to purchase ice for holiday parties, corporate outings, men's league games, youth leagues and open skates.
For the players and coaches, the Frozen Frontier offered not only a chance to be a part of something special, but it was also an opportunity to revisit their youth when the game was most fun. The off-ice pageantry made the presentation of the event all the more extraordinary, from the pregame walk down the tunnel to the powerful, evocative on-field entrance accompanied by fireworks and bellows from the Rochester faithful. This was certainly like no other game.
“It definitely takes a lot out of you in terms of the build-up of the game,” said then Amerks head coach Chadd Cassidy, whose team erased a 3-1 deficit in regulation and bounced back from a 2-0 hole in the shootout. “It was definitely an emotion-filled night and I saw a little bit of everything over the course of the game.”
Rochester’s late-game resurgence was a direct result of the crowd’s energy and Cassidy cited that his team fed off that heading into the latter stages of the game.
“Awesome, it was just awesome,” Cassidy said of the crowd’s energy. “I remember during the last TV timeout just looking up at the stands, and as cold as it was, I didn’t see a whole lot of empty seats up there. You just feel the energy, and everybody was into the game and I’m willing to bet the fans were as emotionally drained as we were (the team).”
At the end of the day, though, with the Amerks already a third of the way through the season, the game remained as important as ever with another two points at stake. The magnitude and hoopla of the game aside, an event like this is something every player only wishes they can experience at least once in their career. The only downside to that, however, is recognizing the underlying importance of the game and maintaining focus on the task at hand.
“Once the puck drops, you play hockey,” recalled Ellis, whose valiant efforts promptly earned him a promotion to the parent Buffalo Sabres the very next day. “I don’t think the setting really makes a difference. We’ve all played enough games to realize that as soon as you throw a puck on the ice, all of a sudden it’s a game. The venue might have been a little different, as well as the outdoor elements, but we forced ourselves to become accustomed to them. Once we’re out there, we all have a job to do and it’s game time.”
Amerks veteran forward Mike Zigomanis knew all too well how to balance the fine line of enjoying the outdoor experience while getting the job done. The outing at Frontier Field was the second in three years for Zigomanis, who also appeared in the provincial matchup against the Hamilton Bulldogs as a member of the Toronto Marlies during the 2011-12 campaign. His prior experience was very influential for the Rochester youth, especially considering the amount of physical and mental preparation leading up to puck drop, but he, too, echoed Ellis’ sentiments about the game overall.
“I told the guys before that it was going to be one of the games where you really can’t blame the elements,” said Zigomanis. “We just had to go out there and enjoy it and the team that was going to have the most fun, was going to come out on top. At the end of the day, it’s still a regular season game and we needed to continue doing the things we have been doing and building as a team to go out there and get two points.”
From a fan perspective, the Frozen Frontier may have offered a different outlook for those fortunate enough to partake in the historic evening, but also something equally as meaningful. In actuality, the bigger picture of the event had little to no relevance whatsoever with the outcome of the game or its participants as evidenced by the Lake Erie players, who despite losing the game, chose to stay on the ice and render an appreciative salute to both the Rochester and Cleveland fans that made the four-hour commute to the Flower City.
The Frozen Frontier represented how a community rallied around its team and how 11,015 crazed and energetic fans braved the cold and wintery elements just to say they were part of the first-ever outdoor game in franchise history. The game unified a town with an already deep-rooted hockey history and further solidified its legendary status as a hockey hotbed. It was about a city celebrating a game it’s most passionate about. It was about creating memories.
A decade later, the event is still being reminisced, and even years from now, everyone involved will continue to look back and reflect on what was the Frozen Frontier and how it was a truly one-of-a-kind experience that players and fans alike will always remember.
But, then again, not even Hollywood could have scripted this one better.