“The NHL’s Winter Classic Should Come to New York”

by Anthony Strait, OTSL Floor Director

When the National Hockey League came up with the idea of an outdoor game to be played on New Year’s Day, it was first looked at like yet another gimmick to help a struggling brand get notice. After all, the league had fallen behind NASCAR in terms of popularity while the national coverage of the sport has been reduced significally since the days of ESPN National Hockey Night. The date was January 1, 2008 and what we saw that afternoon was the start of what has become a tradition. In a snowy Ralph Wilson Stadium, Sidney Crosby won the game in a shootout as Commissioner Gary Bettman and the brain trusts at NBC scored a big one for hockey. The following year’s classic at Wrigley field yielded the highest ratings in 33 years for the sport. Now a stable of New Year’s Day and a premiere event, it is about time that it comes to the Big Apple either next season or after that. You can only imagine the ratings boost if this game was held in either Yankee Stadium or even Citi Field and featured the New York Rangers and New York Islanders-rich with hatred and vintage uniforms.

Even if you’re not a hockey purist, the idea of an outdoor hockey game is appealing to the most casual sports viewer. With the national spotlight on the sport, it is about time one of the oldest and bitter in-state rivalries is featured. Both of these franchises have the rich history that the NHL loves to display. The Islanders were one of sports most dominant dynasties in the 1980s and featured names like Al Arbour, Mike Bossy, Dennis Potvin and Bryan Trottier. The Rangers feature classic names of their own in Mark Messier, Brian Leech, Rod Gilbert, and Eddie Giacomin. The Rangers are also one of the original six teams and their 1994 Stanley Cup run became part of pop culture by ending a 54 year title drought. Who could ever forget the chants of “1940” from Islander fans taunting the Rangers faithful? The close proximity of these two teams makes for instant drama. Their meetings this season have been high scoring games with a playoff-like atmosphere. The NHL could multiply that by 50,000-60,000 jamming a packed stadium and making it the centerpiece of the league schedule.

Of course New York also has two baseball stadiums to choose from. Yankee Stadium originally was a candidate for the 2010 winter classic before it was awarded to Boston’s Fenway Park and was in discussion to host this year’s game. It has shown over the last few years that it can hold other events beyond baseball as concerts, boxing matches and college football have been featured. Citi Field has its unique charm and attraction that makes it more than just a ball park. A candidate to host the 2013 MLB All-Star game, Citi Field’s configuration may actually allow for more room to construct an outdoor hockey rink than the fan box that Yankee Stadium offers. If the NHL wanted to use both of these they could schedule Rangers/Islanders back to back years with the Rangers being home at Yankee stadium while the Islanders being the home team at Citi field. But the NHL would like to feature as many unique venues and teams as possible so that idea goes out the window. There is always a good old coin flip to determine things. Hey, it worked for the Giants and Jets, albeit in ugly fashion.

The popular feature to the winter classic is the vintage uniforms that teams sport in these games. What casual fan wouldn’t love to see the Isles dust off those Fisherman-like orange and teal uniforms from the 1997 season for one day? While the Rangers debuted 3^rd uniforms last month, the Isles have gone back to their traditional colors the last few years. They could bring back the fisherman uniform for an alternate scheme. That is normally the case where as the teams that wear the vintage uniforms adopt them as third color jerseys and the fans typically love them. While it wasn’t a hit originally in 1997, who’s to say it wouldn’t be a best seller in 2011?

There is also significance to playing as the road team as it has yielded its own curse. Since 2008, the road team in the Winter Classic has gone on to the Stanley Cup final that year only to lose. Considering neither team has come close to getting that far during the season, that would be a welcome curse in these parts. The NHL announces the host for these games during the off season; let’s keep our fingers crossed that this matchup takes place next season. Hockey on New Year’s Day has become what baseball is to the Fourth of July and football is to Thanksgiving. It is time for the coolest game on earth to take center stage on Broadway.