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In Pittsburgh, Summer Gives Way to a Winter Classic
by Tony on 07/27/10 at 08:31 AM ET
Comments (8)
From NHL.com’s Shawn P. Roarke:
Despite a near-perfect summer day Tuesday, Pittsburgh already is thinking cold, as in what could well be a winter wonderland Jan. 1, 2011.
Some of the plans for the biggest event of the NHL’s regular season—the 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic—will be unveiled during a Tuesday afternoon press conference at Heinz Field, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers and site of this coming season’s Classic.
The fourth installment of the Winter Classic, to be played at the sparkling home of the Steelers, will feature the hometown Penguins hosting the Washington Capitals in a marquee matchup that will pit the game’s two biggest stars—Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin—against each other before a national television audience in a game broadcast by NBC in the United States and CBC in Canada.
Filed in: Pittsburgh Penguins | The Confluence | Permalink
Tags: NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Washington+Capitals,
Comments
Don’t fuss…we’ve already received the guarantee from the league (regardless of how hard they try) that neither Pittsburgh or Washington will win the Cup this year…
Posted by mrfluffy from Long Beach on 07/27/10 at 09:08 AM ET
I understand the sentiment, in fact I said as much on New Year’s Day…
Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 07/27/10 at 09:11 AM ET
I would feel the same way if the league was offering Detroit another Winter Classic.
The Winter Classic is a great event, but to keep it great they need to do only 1 a year. or maybe back to back games would be nice ( something like a rangers vs devils followed by islanders vs bruins)
If they are going to keep it at one game a year (which they need to) they really need to spread it around, so it can be a showcase of all of the leagues teams.
Posted by wingsnut25 from Cheboygan, MI on 07/27/10 at 09:39 AM ET
Posted by wingsnut25 on 07/27/10 at 10:05 AM ET
The same could be said of Montreal. They will be playing their 2nd Hertitage Classic. Of course, they aren’t hosting but still, there’s 3 other Canadian teams that could have been picked.
I agree with Tony, although I’m not going to complain if I can manage to get tickets to the game. Especially with opening the new arena this year, I think they should have waited. Honestly, the new Yankees stadium having a bowl game on Jan 1 I think messed up the NHL on this. I still think it would have been NYR-WAS up there had that not happened.
Posted by pens fan in baltimore on 07/27/10 at 09:41 AM ET
Calgray vs. Edmonton or especially vs. Vancouver would’ve been super-awesome.
Posted by NathanBC on 07/27/10 at 10:36 AM ET
If they are going to keep it at one game a year (which they need to) they really need to spread it around, so it can be a showcase of all of the leagues teams.
That’s a common sentiment, which raises an interesting question. What would be more detrimental to the event: featuring the same teams over and over again, risking the boredom that comes from repetition, or featuring teams relatively few fans care about (perhaps even in the team’s home market), risking broad apathy?
Either could be bad, but I think the league feels a signature event such as this demands popular teams with lots of cachet. There is now an expectation that this game will be quickly sold out, will have strong TV ratings, etc. I don’t see how featuring teams like the Islanders and the Devils, who cannot sell out their own buildings and are way, way down in the pecking order for media attention in their respective markets, benefits the league. It would benefit those teams, sure. But not the league. And this is a league event, with high sponsorship expectations.
Posted by Lex Talionis on 07/27/10 at 12:31 PM ET
Either could be bad, but I think the league feels a signature event such as this demands popular teams with lots of cachet. There is now an expectation that this game will be quickly sold out, will have strong TV ratings, etc.
Quite. It’s a signature event with a certain purpose, not designed as an opportunity for every NHL to play outdoors. At least not for a while.
I don’t think that completely eliminates small market teams with a limited national following from appearing in the Winter Classic, but they’ll have to be propped up by a prominent team in terms of history, popularity, and preferably notable stars. That reduces variety, but I think it’s possible to avoid the danger of exaggerated repetition.
Beyond that, I think that this Winter Classic between Washington and Pittsburgh is good for hockey, the teams involved, and also good for the league. That being said, Pittsburgh shouldn’t be asked for a while.
Posted by Moq from Denmark on 07/27/10 at 03:45 PM ET
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I understand this is a huge match up, Pittsburgh vs Washington, Crosby vs Ovechekin,
but did Pittsburgh really need another Winter Classic? they should give some other teams a chance. (especially more of the original six)
Posted by wingsnut25 from Cheboygan, MI on 07/27/10 at 09:05 AM ET