The 2011 Winter Classic
It’s the first major professional sporting event of the New Year. It’s a holiday tradition, now four year’s old. It’s when the NHL brings professional hockey out doors for just one day, and celebrates the games origins as well as its present season. This year’s venue was Heinz Field in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, and a match up of two Eastern Conference rivals: the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals. One of the great many highlights is to watch a baseball field or football stadium convert over to an NHL hockey rink. Legendary parks like Wrigley Field and Fenway Park have been used in recent years, but this year, a home game for one of the sports most legendary franchises took center stage.
The game time changed at the very last minute in an attempt to accommodate the bleak weather forecast. Originally scheduled as a 1:00pm game, the NHL’s brass changed the game to prime time. 8:00pm on NBC was the new scheduled start, in hope that the precipitation would move out of the Pittsburgh area.
The backup plan would not pan out.
Mario Lemieux Franco Harris and Jerome Bettis (all three beloved Pittsburgh sports heroes’) dropped the first puck to begin the Classic’s Opening Ceremonies. After both Canada’s and America’s National Anthems were sung; the game was finally upon us.
The very first observation from Pittsburgh was the 46-degree temperatures that created very wet ice conditions. Then just minutes into the first period a stop in play occurred to repair a damaged glass panel above the wall. Then questions about the outdoor nighttime lighting were raised by the NBC announce crew. (Doc Emerick and Eddie Olczyk.) Then the rain started to pour down onto the ice. After five minutes of play, the nature of the outdoor event was still a bigger story then any of the action between the two-rivaled teams.
As the first period ended, neither team had scored, and after 28 shots on goal (Penguins 16 / Capitals 12) the Winter Classic was locked in a 0-0 no score. In fact the only real excitement in the first period at all, was an old fashion hockey brawl between Washington’s John Erskine and Pittsburgh’s Michael Rupp. The two men threw down their gloves and exchanged a furious cluster of blows before being separated. The fight would cost each player five minutes in the penalty box.
At 2:13 in the second period, an Evgeni Malkin break away, lead to his 14th goal of the season, and the first of the Winter Classic. The city of Pittsburgh went wild as the home team took the 1-0 lead.
Less then five minutes later, Washington responded with a goal of their own. On a Washington power play, Mike Knuble with a cluster of Capitals teammates in front of the Pittsburgh net, scored to tie the game at 1-1. Nick Backstro, and Mike Green, both had assists, as the wet cold Pittsburgh crowd became quite fast.
Then with just 5:15 left in the second, Penguin goalie Mark Andre Fleury was trying to clear the zone just behind his net. His attempt failed as the puck ricocheted to Washington right-winger Eric Fehr. Fehr’s snap shot, lead to his sixth goal of the year and gave Washington a 2-1 lead. Washington has 16 shots on goal while Pittsburgh had just 8, in the second period and the Capitals were beginning to pull away.
The third period was as offensively uneventful as the first period, with only one exception. That exception was Eric Fehr’s second goal of the game at 7:28 in the third.
With wind and intense rain, the ice began to puddle. And other then a very physical second half of the third period, no points were scored.
The fourth annual Winter Classic came to an end with the road team stealing away the victory. The Washington Capitals were the better team on New Years Day. But these two teams are very evenly matched. Both are elite of their Divisions, both have marquee players/captains, and both could see each other again in the post season.
Speculation regarding the 2012 Winter Classic has already begun. Every city in the U.S. and Canada want in on the NHL’s gem and prized possession. Rumored cities include: Denver, New York, Philadelphia, and Minnesota. Who ever gets the game one year from now, will get hockey’s most exciting, most publicized spectacle on the very first day of the new year.
