There was a great deal of speculation, and now it appears official. The Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadians are reportedly the two participants of the 2016 Bridgestone Winter Classic.
Various reports have suggested that the Classic’s venue is slated to be held at Gillette Stadium on Jan. 1, 2016. It will be the second time that Boston will host the Winter Classic, after defeating the Philadelphia Flyers at Fenway Park in 2010 in an epic overtime win.
Several reports have indicated that Fenway Park was initially in the mix for the game to return Boston, but shortly after TSN’s Bob McKenzie broke the story back in December, it gradually became clear Fenway would not return as the host venue with its roughly 30,000 seating capacity. Compared with Gillette’s nearly 69,000 seating capacity, it became clear for the NHL that Foxborough would be the more lucrative location for such a highly anticipated old-time hockey matchup.
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This Original Six contest may already be the most anticipated Winter Classic to-date, with the league’s most heated rivalry taking center stage on New Year’s Day. We saw old-time hockey two years ago in Ann Arbor between the Original Six Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings. That game is tied as the highest television rated NHL regular season game since 1975. Throw in the enduring rivalry between Boston and Montreal and we just may see the highest-rated regular season game in league history.
Boston is now the first team to host the Winter Classic for a second time out of the other six markets to host the game. And it makes sense. The NHL knows what it is doing. This is the type of matchup the league envisioned when they created the game with two historic squads meeting outdoors, just like old-time hockey.
Puck Prose
The Bruins and Canadians were destined to eventually joust in this type of game, and they will do so at the expense of other hockey-craved markets, such as the State of Hockey. Minnesota was a primitive location to potentially host the outdoor game earlier last year. Now, it appears Minnesota will host a Stadium Series game before they can take on a Winter Classic.
So why did the NHL pick Boston, once again, over one of the nation’s largest hockey markets in Minnesota? The rivalry between the Bruins and Canadians says it all, and all that accompanies it. Whether it be their historic hatred or the Original Six factor, the league clearly felt this rivalry needed to evolve with the Winter Classic eventually.
The league is expected to officially announce the news during the NHL All-Star Game in Columbus, Ohio this weekend.