It’s official: Frozen Fury shifts to T-Mobile Arena

Forgive what is more or less the re-positioning of a press release, but it’s a busy day today, and I’ve got to beat the traffic and head downtown shortly. With that said, the 2016 installment of Frozen Fury is now official: The Kings will play the first hockey games at Las Vegas’ brand-new T-Mobile Arena this fall when they host the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche on Friday, October 7 and Saturday, October 8. The arena is operated in a joint venture between AEG and MGM Resorts International.

Dallas will be making its first ever appearance at Frozen Fury, while Colorado will play in its 17th game all-time in the pre-season exhibition-slash-party. The Kings are 12-4-3 all-time in Frozen Fury and 9-4-3 against the Avs; Los Angeles also beat the New York Rangers 4-1 in 2013, San Jose 4-3 in 2001 and Phoenix 4-0 in 1999.

Last night the arena opened with a concert featuring The Killers and Wayne Newton – seemingly about as much of a match as Roscoe’s Chili and Donuts – and appeared to go off without a hitch, according to reports. Photos of the event are available here, courtesy of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“We are excited to be featured in one of the very first sporting events at the new T-Mobile Arena and we look forward to creating new Frozen Fury memories there,” Kings President, Business Operations Luc Robitaille said in a statement. “The atmosphere at Frozen Fury is always one of the highlights of our exhibition game schedule and we believe we can take this to a ‘next level’ in this new environment. Our fans will be excited that there will be two games this season, our 50th Anniversary, and we know they — along with our players — are going to love this new state-of-the-art arena.”

Ticketing information will be available at a later date. Four events on the Kings’ 2016 pre-season slate have already been announced: A “Black and White” intrasquad game at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario on September 25, a Kraft Hockeyville Canada game against the Oilers in Lumby, B.C. on October 2, and the two Frozen Fury games.