The Winter Classic

Hockey is a beautiful sport, and nothing warms a hockey fan's heart more than an outdoor hockey game. The NHL has experimented with outdoor games with the Heritage Classic a couple of years ago, where even officials were forced to wear hats and gloves because it was freezing. A lot of people enjoyed that game, and demanded to see more games like this. Then confirmed during this year, the NHL set another outdoor game to be played on New Year's Day, 2008 at Ralph WIlson Stadium, home of the NFL team, the Buffalo Bills. The game was between the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins, and had to compete with several College Football bowl games for TV ratings. The game aired on NBC during the Capital One Bowl between Michigan and Florida, which was on ABC at the time. Even though the college football game had a higher rating, but this NHL game was the highest rated NHL game since 1996. To be perfectly honest, this game was like a fairy tale to me. To see over 70,000 people watch an outdoor game, with snow lightly falling throughout the game, and have the NHL brightest star, Sidney Crosby, win the game in a shootout, was like a dream come true. The NHL plans to do more games like this and i am all for it. These games bring the NHL back to its roots, which began with pond hockey. I can only hope that the NHL will continue to do these games, not for the benefit of the league, but for the benefit of the sport.