Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 5.16

www.afootinthecrease.com

Winter Classic number three in the books now and from the “House that Ted Williams Built” – Fenway Park – on New Year’s Day, from an atmosphere perspective and from a hockey perspective, it was arguably the best yet. Over forty thousand people witnessed an outstanding hockey game between the Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers, one that featured many of the true elements of an authentic hockey game that had been absent in years past because of ideal weather conditions and tremendous ice.

No disrespect at all toward NHL Ice Guru Dan Craig but for the first time in three Classics, the players actually got more ice time and that, to Craig, is a testament to the quality of his work. The perfect conditions led to a physical style with banging and crashing along the boards, players willingly blocking shots, a fight and the ability to effectively move the puck with a hockey stick instead of a snow shovel. It’s tough to convince anybody to do any of those things when there is forty mile an hour winds, a temperature of -15 degrees Celsius and drifting snow.

Obviously the conditions are somewhat uncontrollable but for those few hours, the NHL couldn’t have asked for anything better. Of course now though, the talk comes about how successful the Winter Classic was and how the league can capitalize even further off of its popularity. Rumors of more than one game per season, even holding a Winter Classic in a west coast location or in Dallas have been tossed about. Only one problem with that, it’s hard to hold a “Winter” Classic surrounded by palm trees and deserts.

The strength of the Winter Classic rests as much in the atmosphere though as it does in the quality of the caliber of hockey game it produces. Bringing players and fans back to a more simple grassroots level when the game was played more for the love than the potential amount of dollars it might earn you is what it’s all about. Start using it too much as a pawn to sweeten other deals and the magic that exists will be lost. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.