JAN
02
01-02-08 | Inside NHL Boxscore - Winter Classic Edition
Posted January 2nd ago via The Sports Frog
1 Dirtlocker Point for each player mentioned in this post:





The following is a portion of the full post
Images and full post at The Sports Frog
Some Winter Classic thoughts:
  • I'm glad it's over and that it was a success. The whole thing was definitely something that makes the game more accessible to the casual fan, and that's a nice change for the NHL.
  • But the hockey itself was, save for a handful of instances of near brilliance, something that reminded me more of a men's league pickup game than a contest of professional athletes.
  • And while the score was only 1-1, there were three solid posts (2-1, Buffalo) that all could have easily been goals. There was a decent amount of physical play, and a lot more contact than what was in the Heritage Classic.
  • But for the most part, this was spectacle and not substance. It was a novelty, and a fine one. But I wouldn't expect this to become a regular event, because like in any blind date, what seems sweet and cute now can easily turn into annoying and needless once you get settled back into your element. Then again, this is the NHL, so they'll probably beat the idea into the ground.
  • I think it was fitting, too, that the league's new novelty was ended with the game's old novelty (a shootout). In five years, we'll be watching an outdoor game in Beijing that ends with a John Tavares shootout goal that flies over the top of Jonathan Bernier's mask and into the back of a 10 foot high net.
  • Finally, I chuckled every time I saw a player at the end of a shift, look up to the sky expecting to see a scoreboard there. God was not giving replays on this day.
Some other notes about the game:



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