Outdoor gems too fun to get old

— -- CHICAGO -- On a cold Saturday evening, about 60,000 fans sat in near-blizzard conditions to watch a regular-season hockey game in a football stadium.

This "Stadium Series" game didn't need marketing. It didn't need beer sponsorships and a glitzy production. It certainly didn't need a between-periods concert from the Plain White T's. This game could've sold out by word of mouth.

Outdoor hockey forever, man.

"It honestly did feel like we were playing shinny hockey in the backyard," captain Jonathan Toews said after his Chicago Blackhawks' 5-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Soldier Field.

Do 62,291 fans show up to shinny hockey games in Toews' native Winnipeg? Check that, it's Canada. So, yeah, probably. But here, it's still a novelty.

"Every time there was shovels on the ice, you sat back and looked around and kind of marveled at the people and how amazing the setting was,"  Kris Versteeg said.

But while the fans at the game had a blast, the dollars and cents of playing stadium games continues to make perfect sense.

This game, the last of the expanded "Stadium Series" games, which grew out of the annual Winter Classic game, was much more meaningful than the final score, precious points be damned.