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Winter Classic Indeed
By: Ash Wade
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Posted by AshWade
Wed Jan 2, 2008 22:31:44 CST
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This is a reader-submitted article. The Advocate has not verified its accuracy.
I was more interested in the NHL Winter Classic than the bowl offerings on New Year’s Day, And not because I am a big hockey fan. I am a big fan of college football but the game was an event rarely seen in pro sports. The NHL returned to it’s roots. Hockey played on a rink, outdoors.
In the days leading up to the game I was not that excited because I am not a big fan of either of the teams that were playing, the Buffalo Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Even though the Penguins are led by a young superstar named Sidney Crosby and they are loaded with young talent and are fun to watch.
But when the telecast began I was hooked. Outside of playoff hockey, this may have been the one televised game that actually transmitted the ambiance to the viewer through the TV (in my opinion this is the main reason hockey doesn't translate well to a TV audience). I thought announcer Mike Emrick's enthusiasm was contagious, even though his man-crush on Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby was very obvious.
To put this in proper perspective, this hockey game being played outdoors in front of 71,000 fans in Buffalo is like MLB playing a game on a sandlot somewhere.
A lot of people are calling for the NHL to try and recreate this game on a regular, if not, yearly basis. But, if the NHL does this too often it will ruin the special feeling created by such an event. Once every 4 years (the old Olympic formula) would be ideal.
In my opinion, the Heritage Classic game (outdoors in front of 58,000 fans in Edmonton Alberta), a couple of years ago, featuring the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens, was better due to the true novelty of it being the first outdoor NHL game played. Also, Norman Rockwell could not have painted a more picturesque snapshot of Canadiana than hockey being played outdoors in the middle of winter. The only thing better would've been to play this game on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa or on a frozen pond somewhere on the prairies.
My only complaint is that this year’s game was played a year too late. Last year’s Buffalo team was loaded with talent and I can only imagine how great the game would have been with last year's Sabres team on the ice?
