Another Year, Another Great NHL Winter Classic

Despite the outcome of the game – the Boston Bruins were routed 5-1 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, and, by the estimate of many who see the Bruins on a regular basis, turned in their worst game in some time – there’s no doubt that the 2016 edition if what has become the National Hockey League’s premiere regular season showcase game was a successful one.

When you have a capacity crowd at an NFL stadium for a hockey game, it can only mean good things. Sure, the quality of the game wasn’t great, but the fact that people tune in for the spectacle is the main thing. Let’s be honest, the quality of a game on outdoor ice, hastily manufactured for this New Year’s Day showcase has never been great. It’s not like skating on an indoor rink in any given NHL arena – ask any honest player and they’ll tell you as much. Ask Bruins star Denis Seidenberg, and he’ll gladly give you an assessment of the playing surface, as he did in the days leading up to his team’s capitulation.

No, what makes the Winter Classic such a ratings winner for NBC and it’s Canadian partners, is the spectacle. The players grew up playing on outdoor rinks, and it’s so did many of the people who cram into football stadiums and baseball parks for these games.

The romance of the game of hockey is something you hear often in the lead-up to the Winter Classic (and the myriad other outdoor games the NHL now uses as cash cows) and there’s an element of truth to it. The event is a throwback to the formative days for every one of the players out there, pick-up hockey on a frozen lake writ large. Of course, the stakes are much higher.

In reality, the contest itself doesn’t matter. It comes in secondary to the spectacle, and in 2016, the NHL certainly helped themselves by sending arguably the greatest rivalry in hockey outdoors. Boston and Montreal is a contest that is mentioned with reverence and awe, and the two Original Six franchises have faced each other more than 900 times in history. There’s genuine hatred between the two teams and their fan bases.

When you send the B’s and Habs to the Outdoor Classic, you’re guaranteeing plenty of interest and plenty of press. Both teams were very busy in the lead-up to the game, doing more media than any player does outside of the Stanley Cup Final. Montreal’s presence helps television numbers and general engagement in Canada – not that the Great White North really needs help when it comes to people engaging with hockey – and TV numbers for such a well-known rivalry. You’re guaranteed some animosity on the ice, and some off the ice, too. It engages fans, especially those in the nosebleeds, where you just about need the Hubble Space Telescope to see the puck.

I’ve always maintained that the Winter Classic works best when you have either a great rivalry or play the game in a famous stadium. In the past, we’ve seen classic rivalries like the Rangers and Philadelphia, Chicago and Detroit, Chicago and Toronto and a modern-day one in the shape of Pittsburgh and Washington. We’ve also seen less exciting rivalries, like Boston/Philadelphia, but they key there was that the game took place in Fenway Park, as historic a venue as there is anywhere in sport.

Last year missed the mark – the NHL sent Chicago and Washington to the home of Major League Baseball’s Washington Nationals. That game featured two teams with no real rivalry in a venue less than a decade old. Clearly, the League wanted Ovechkin, Kane and Toews in the same game. They got it, and a pretty good game, but it lacked the buzz of previous years. It showed with lower television ratings, the event labelled a disappointment in some circles as a result.

This year, there were stories galore. The rivalry itself, and how it affects players on both sides. Or, how about the Canadiens goalie Mike Condon? He was born in Massachusetts, supporting the Bruins and Patriots and found himself on the opposite team, playing a blinder of a game. The return of small forward Brendan Gallagher to spark the Canadiens, after Montreal had suffered through a putrid December without him in the line-up was a significant story. The week-long event was so big that there were more than 42,000 people in attendance for an alumni game in the lead-up.

The buzz for this year reminded me of early iterations of the concept. Somehow, despite the other outdoor games, this New Year’s Day staple has retained it’s pulling power. I love seeing non-hockey people tune in and invariably come away fans. It’s a great way to introduce people to the sport, even if they’re just folks tuning out of college football games because their teams were getting drubbed.

Yes, maybe we would have seen a better contest on better ice inside TD Garden in Boston or the Bell Centre in Montreal – although, the way the Bruins played, they’d stink up whatever venue the game was scheduled in – but nothing beats the spectacle of New Year’s Day outside, and now, the National Hockey League has it down to a fine art.

Is it New Year’s Day 2017 yet?