Hockey is Back in 15 Days so Let's Talk About the Winter Classic.

The greatest sport on God's green earth is back in just over two weeks. I will go on record and say nothing in the sports world comes close to playoff hockey. Even people who don't like hockey admit that playoff hockey is like drugs. Non-stop action for 60 minutes and sometimes more, way into the wee hours of the morning. I have so many memories as a kid of sneaking back out to the living room after going to bed just to watch Stanley Cup playoff games going into OT. As a Ducks fan, I will never forget the 2003 Ducks versus Stars game 1 that went 5 overtimes. The Ducks won that game by the way but ended up losing in the finals to the Devils. Moving on from my continued misery as a sports fan. Outside of the Stanley Cup playoffs, nothing is cooler than the Winter Classic when it comes to the NHL.

The Winter Classic is now, a yearly tradition where the NHL plays a game outside in football or baseball stadiums. The idea for the Winter Classic first came from Jon Miller, a sports executive for NBC. I have no clue who Jon is and to be quite honest, I don't care. But he is a legend for coming up with the winter classic. Fast forward to 2008 and the picture you see above was the first ever Winter Classic. It was played at Ralph Wilson Stadium which is now known as HighMark Stadium and is home the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, New York. The Buffalo Sabres beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 in a shootout. Since that very first Winter Classic, there have now been a total of 14 Winter Classics and it has become a staple of the NHL. There is nothing better than sitting down on New Years morning knowing you have hockey to watch. And of course, the team with the most wins in the Winter Classic is none other than the Boston Bruins with 3 wins. In 2010 the Bruins beat the Flyers 2-1 in a shootout, in 2019 the Bruins beat the Blackhawks 4-2, and in 2023, they beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1. This years Winter Classic will be held in Seattle at T-Mobile park and will feature the Kraken versus the Vegas Golden Knights. Shoutout Jon Miller for coming up with one of the best ideas the NHL has had in a while. You're a legend. Just get my Ducks into one soon so I can be disappointed by one of my teams on the national level again.