On New Year's Day, 2008, the NHL made history with its first "Winter Classic" outdoor game at the Buffalo Bills' Ralph Wilson Stadium, where the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Buffalo Sabres in a shootout. On New Year's Day 2009, the Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 6-4 in regulation at the Chicago Cubs' Wrigley Field. But on New Year's Day 2010, baseball's oldest ball park, Fenway Park and the city of Boston played host to the third annual Winter Classic. And this time, the home team finally won it.
Pre-game Ceremonies, Starring Bobby Orr, Bobby Clarke, James Taylor & Dropkick Murphys
NBC's 40 minutes of pre-game coverage of the Bruins-Flyers game started at 1:00 pm ET and highlights featured honorary captains and former '70s rivals Bobby Orr of the Bruins and Bobby Clarke of the Flyers shaking hands at center ice. Others include Boston native Irish punk rock group Dropkick Murphys taking to the ball field and performing their signature hit "I'm Shipping Up To Boston" and James Taylor singing the U.S. National Anthem.
Strong Goaltending, First Winter Classic Fight
With close to 40,000 fans looking on and cheering, the highlight of period one was the first ever hockey fight in the NHL's annual outdoor classic, and it was between tough guys Shawn Thornton of the Bruins and Dan Carcillo of the Flyers, the latter of whom won the fight. Reigning goalie of the year Tim Thomas (and now 2010 U.S. Olympic hockey team member) of the Bruins and the Flyers' Michael Leighton looked strong behind their respective nets, and kept the game scoreless going into the second period.
Tim Thomas Versus Scott Hartnell
The Flyers' LW Scott Hartnell is known for pestering opposing goalies in front of the net. But after making contact with Thomas, the veteran goalie took an ill-timed cross-check at Hartnell in retaliation just as Flyers rookie Danny Syvret shot the puck into the back of the net for his first career NHL goal, nearly five minutes into the period. It was the only mental mistake Thomas made in the game, as he made 24 saves in all.
Mark Recchi Ties Game For The Boston Bruins
The first half of the last period didn't look promising from the Bruins perspective, and Flyers goalie Leighton was looking impossible to score a goal against. With eight minutes left in regulation, Boston comedian Lenny Clarke led the rowdy Bruins (and equally rowdy Flyers fans) into a tradition usually only seen at Red Sox home games in the middle of the eighth inning , the sing-along of Neil Diamond's hit song "Sweet Caroline." The energy in the park kept building after that, with alternate "Let's Go Bruins!" and "Let's Go Flyers" chants giving Fenway Park a special and spirited atmosphere.
With 2:18 left in the period, the Bruins finally tied the game at 1 with a power play goal from veteran and former Flyers player Mark Rechhi. Fenway Park and Boston as a whole city erupted in cheers. Relief came to Bruins players and head coach Claude Julien, who said after the game that they desperately wanted to score at least one goal at Fenway Park for those fans. Now that this mission was accomplished, the home team had a game to win.
After a furious flurry of action in the last two minutes, particularly at the Bruins end where the Flyers were trying to get back their lead, the game ended 1-1 and overtime was next.
Bruins Cap Memorable Comeback With Win Over The Flyers
The weather was 40 degrees at the start of the game, the highest temperature of the three Winter Classic games. But as the air got cooler late in the game, the Boston Bruins got hot, starting late in the third and continuing into the early minutes of overtime play. After C Patrice Bergeron spotted leading scorer Marco Sturm, he passed him the puck, which Sturm tipped into the right side of the net past Leighton for the game-winning goal 1:57 into OT. It was the perfect ending to a thrilling game, an instant classic if you will. And win or lose, it was a game and experience that all participants and viewers will not soon forget.
Charlie Doherty - Formerly a staff writer/researcher for independent newspaper project Media Nation, which was published daily by The Boston Globe during ...
