Winter Classic should be just that
via The Province:
New Year’s day seems like the perfect time, and with the Wings playing the resurgent Hawks in Chicago, the timing is just perfect to push the enthusiasm Joel Quenneville’s young team has kindled in the city up to another level.
For starters, the game has history, given these teams have met more times than one cares to remember, and they both have lots to play for at this juncture of the season. The Wings are trying to catch San Jose for the Conference overall lead and the Hawks are trying to catch the Wings, something that would have been an absurd concept when the event was originally planned.
What happens with respect to the weather leading up to and on game day is not something the league will ever be able to predict, even in a place like Edmonton where they knew it was going to be cold enough for the ice. As it turned out it was too cold. In Buffalo the temperature was outstanding, but the snow on the ice at some points caused delays and some odd conditions, although the setting was excellent.
“If you’re talking about the snow we had in Buffalo, that was a huge factor,” Hawks defenceman Brian Campbell told the Chicago Sun Times this week, he having scored the only goal the Sabres managed in the 2-1 shootout loss to the Pens. “It was on the ice and you couldn’t get a slapshot from one end of the ice to the other. It’s going to be interesting to relive that experience. Last year we lived it with the whole community. It was fun.”
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