17th August 2009, 8:32 PM
The upcoming season's edition of the Winter Classic will be held at Fenway Park (the Winter Classic is a new NHL tradition started in 2007-08, based off the success of the Heritage Classic in 2003, which was in turn inspired by the Cold War between Michigan and Michigan State in 2001. It's a regular-season game played outdoors). Awesome! It's not quite Yankee Stadium, which will happen in the future most definitely, but it's still going to be a pretty awesome event. The game at Wrigley Field last year was really cool and they incorporated some elements of the stadium (i.e. painting ivy on the boards) in pretty neat ways. I'm sure there will more of the same this year for Fenway.
I love the Winter Classic and it's great for the league. It's an awesome way to reach out to new fans and is a great service to old-time sports fans, even if they aren't hockey fans. I'm sure some long-time Cubs fans who never really cared about the Blackhawks were interested in the game at Wrigley last year. As great as they all have been so far though, none of them have really matched the success and magic of the 2003 Heritage Classic in Edmonton, which I was fortunate enough to attend. I got to see Gretzky and Messier and Kurri and Anderson and Fuhr and Lafleur play for the first time ever.
Apparently it was between Philly and Boston this year for the rights to hold the outdoor game, so maybe that means it will be in Philly for the 2010-11 season. New York will definitely hold one; they could pop the dome at Roger's Centre and the Leafs could have one; Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal, and Ottawa don't really have the proper facilities; Detroit would definitely be very popular. And with the surging interest of hockey in Ohio, why can't Columbus host the Winter Classic? Could you imagine filling up Ohio Stadium for a hockey game? There have also been talks of hosting the game in a warmer climate, and the Rose Bowl has sometimes been included in these discussions as a potential location. Holy shit, the fucking Rose Bowl.
![[Image: heritageclassic-edmonton.jpg]](http://www.onfrozenblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/heritageclassic-edmonton.jpg)
Heritage Classic in Edmonton, 2003
![[Image: stadium.view(3).jpg]](http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/multimedia/photo_gallery/0801/nhl.winter.classic.pens.sabres/images/stadium.view(3).jpg)
Winter Classic in Buffalo, 2008
![[Image: 2009WinterClassic7.jpg]](http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp162/slipshine/2009WinterClassic7.jpg)
Wrigley, 2009
I love the Winter Classic and it's great for the league. It's an awesome way to reach out to new fans and is a great service to old-time sports fans, even if they aren't hockey fans. I'm sure some long-time Cubs fans who never really cared about the Blackhawks were interested in the game at Wrigley last year. As great as they all have been so far though, none of them have really matched the success and magic of the 2003 Heritage Classic in Edmonton, which I was fortunate enough to attend. I got to see Gretzky and Messier and Kurri and Anderson and Fuhr and Lafleur play for the first time ever.
Apparently it was between Philly and Boston this year for the rights to hold the outdoor game, so maybe that means it will be in Philly for the 2010-11 season. New York will definitely hold one; they could pop the dome at Roger's Centre and the Leafs could have one; Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal, and Ottawa don't really have the proper facilities; Detroit would definitely be very popular. And with the surging interest of hockey in Ohio, why can't Columbus host the Winter Classic? Could you imagine filling up Ohio Stadium for a hockey game? There have also been talks of hosting the game in a warmer climate, and the Rose Bowl has sometimes been included in these discussions as a potential location. Holy shit, the fucking Rose Bowl.
Heritage Classic in Edmonton, 2003
Winter Classic in Buffalo, 2008
Wrigley, 2009