The National Hockey League made an official announcement that the 2009-2010 regular season will have a match up between Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers at Fenway Park in Boston. This historic ballpark will host the game between the Eastern Conference rivals at 1pm on January 1st 2010. This is the fourth outdoor hockey game and the third winter classic in the last five seasons and it will be broad casted to viewers by NBC in the US and Canada. CBC and RDS will show case the event live and NHL radio and Sirius XM Radio will provide the radio coverage of the event. This game will be sponsored by Bridgestone and is expected to be viewed by more than 6 million people in the whole of North America. The primary idea behind these outdoor hockey games played at baseball parks is to acknowledge the recent uptrend for the original six teams after a prolonged period of downturn.
The first winter classic took place between Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburg Penguins in which the Penguins won 2-1. This was held at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo with more than 71,000 fans. Last year, the Detroit red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks at Wigley Field in Chicago. But the number of people who turned last year was only half of the previous year mainly because of the small size of the stadium. These winter classics are the most watched game of the regular season and it received the “Sports Event of the Year” award by the SportsBusinessJournal. The idea for these winter classic games came from the Heritage Classic game that took place in November 2003 in Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium in Canada between Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers.
The players of both the teams are looking forward to this outdoor game and according to Paul Kelly, the NHLPA Director, this event can become an important highlight in the career of Bruins and Flyers. Also, Gary Bettman, commissioner of NHL was very excited about the event and he said that this is a unique event that has to take place in a unique venue where the Bruins and Flyers will renew their rivalry. These two teams have had a long and contentious rivalry that began with the Flyers beating the Bruins to get their first Stanley Cup Trophy in 1974. In fact, the rivalry between Boston and Philadelphia is historic with Celtics and 76ers fighting it out during the 1981 and 1982 NBA Championship and the Patriots and Eagles in 2005. All this rivalry makes this Winter Classic game one of the most sought-after sports event in Boston, especially among NHL fans.
The regular season of NHL will begin in October and will go on until April. The Bruins are expected to perform better this season with the presence of Tim Thomas (recipient of Vezina Trophy and William M Jennings Trophy), Zdeno Chara (recipient of James Morris Memorial Trophy) and coach Claude Julien (recipient of Jack Adams Trophy).
Bruins tickets and tickets for the 2010 Winter Classic hockey game can be purchased online at www.BostonianTickets.com
No comments:
Post a Comment