from Nicholas J. Cotsonika of Yahoo,

It was 60-something degrees Fahrenheit, and from where John Collins was standing in the middle of a major-league baseball stadium, you could see palm trees and a beach volleyball court and a rock-concert stage and a roller-hockey rink and an NHL-caliber ice-hockey rink, with real-live NHL players practicing on it.

“I think you always want to do something that you think is beyond anyone’s wildest dreams,” said Collins, the NHL’s chief operating officer.

The NHL will play its first regular-season outdoor game at a warm-weather venue Saturday, when the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks meet at Dodger Stadium. There is ice where there isn’t supposed to be ice. There will be stars in the stands and in the sky. Cool.

But it goes beyond that. It’s even wilder. The NHL had dreamed so big that it has pushed the limits of sales and logistics to levels we have never seen before – and won’t see again, at least in the near future. So far, for the most part, it appears to be pulling it off.

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