NHL Blizzard Downs The Hurricanes After Polar Vortex Hits Buffalo

An NHL blizzard has put a stop on the Hurricanes’ game.

As the polar vortex swept through the country, brutal winds and heavy snow forced the NHL to postpone Tuesday’s game between the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes.

Buffalo has been hit with snow and wind so heavy that many roads remained closed. Officials in New York closed a stretch of the Thruway that stretched all the way from Rochester to the Pennsylvania border more than 100 miles away.

Even the players, many of whom come from the far reaches of the Canadian tundra, admitted that the conditions were brutal.

“It’s really windy. I watched a guy get blown back 20 feet trying to close the trunk of his car last night,” Hurricanes goalie Justin Peters said after the morning skate. “Riding the bus over here, you couldn’t see too far, you could barely see the traffic light in front of you.”

There is not yet a make up date for the NHL game canceled due to the blizzard, but it isn’t likely to be anytime soon. Mike Sundheim, a spokesman for the Hurricanes, said the team is planning to stay in Buffalo overnight and return home to North Carolina on Wednesday.

The NHL blizzard game won’t be played in the near future. The Hurricanes are off to Toronto on Thursday and travel to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets the next day.

The team has 14 games scheduled over the next 31 days, a torrid stretch that leads them into the Olympic break. They have one four-day break during that period, but the Sabres have two games during that time.

The NHL blizzard canceled what may have been an interesting game. Though the Sabres are in the basement of the NHL, they have put together a five-game home winning streak based on the torrid play of newly named Olympic goalie Ryan Miller. The Hurricanes are riding a four-game winning streak of their own.

This is not the first NHL game to be postponed by a blizzard. The Sabres had a contest in 2000 called off due to wintry weather, and last year the Boston Bruins had a February contest rescheduled amid a blizzard.