2003-04

• "Don't get caught with the wrong jersey." The NHL does a switcheroo of sorts -- dark jerseys become home jerseys,while white jerseys are the new road jerseys. It's the first season for that arrangement since 1969-70.

• The league introduces the Vintage jersey program, in which seven teams -- Boston, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Montreal, the New York Rangers, St. Louis and Vancouver wear uniforms of the past for select games.

• Take it outside -- for the first time ever, a regular season game is played outdoors. The Edmonton Oilers hosted the Montreal Canadiens at frigid Commonwealth Stadium. It is so cold that Canadiens goalie Jose Theodore wore a tuque over his goalie mask to try to keep warm. The Canadiens would win, 4-3.

• The 2003-04 season marks the last for Mark Messier. He becomes the last remaining player from the WHA to call it a career (Messier played for the Cincinnati Stingers in 1978-79).

• Brian Boucher of the Phoenix Coyotes sets a new record for the longest shutout sequence in NHL history. He went 332:01 without giving up a goal, registering six consecutive shutouts in the process.

• For the first time, the Stanley Cup goes to the Sunshine State, as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeat the Calgary Flames, four games to three, to win the Cup.