A New Year's Day alternative: Old Time Hockey

By Joseph Turkos

Instead of spending this New Year’s Day watching a bunch of meaningless college bowl games, here’s a better way to spend your time while nursing that New Year’s Eve hangover: Watch hockey. The NHL Winter Classic to be more specific.

Now I know it’s hard for many Philadelphia fans, except for the hard core puck heads, to watch a hockey game that doesn’t include the Flyers, who -- as of this post -- are 0-2 on their current Western swing. But the Winter Classic is something special.

This year’s game will pit the host Blackhawks (20-6-7) against the Detroit Red Wings (23-7-5).

Played on an outdoor rink, the first installment of the classic took place on New Year’s Day 2008 at Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson Stadium where the Buffalo Sabers hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins. A great idea by the NHL brass, this wasn’t the first time that the NHL experimented with regular-season outdoor play.

In November of 2003, the Edmonton Oilers hosted the Montreal Canadians in the Heritage Classic. That game was played at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium in temperatures that hovered around -22 degrees. Talk about Old Time hockey.

Professional hockey players from all points north talk about growing up playing hockey on frozen ponds, an experience that escaped many hockey fans.

Growing up in Northeastern Pennsylvania in the late 70’s and early 80’s, I wasn’t exposed to too much hockey. At that time there were few organized leagues and the game wasn’t played at the high school level. But armed with a hockey stick given to me by my uncle and sporting my new ice skates (the figure-skating kind), I, along with a few friends, would head to the local basketball court that, during the winter, was flooded and doubled as a hockey rink. There we would attempt to play ice hockey. The experience still resonates in my mind.

The play wasn’t pretty or highly skilled, but it was fun, especially when it snowed. And while I never had plans of playing organized hockey, the experience helped to cement my interest in the game.

I watched last year’s classic and with the snow falling, the thoughts of my early, albeit crude, hockey experience rushed back like a slap shot.

The first puck will drop on this year New Year’s Day classic at 1 p.m. on the configured rink at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. Unfortunately snow isn’t in the forecast. But with temperatures expected in low 30s and with two of the Original Six teams on the ice, we’re sure to see an exciting, well-played and entertaining hockey game.

And don’t forget, Penn State and USC kick off at 5 p.m.