Royalty sees Stadium Series at Yankee Stadium!‏

The NHL started an annual tradition back on January 1, 2008 when they played their first outdoor game in the United States. The Pittsburgh Penguins played the Buffalo Sabres at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, NY. It was an overwhelming success. They called it the Winter Classic. The NHL had played a similar game back in November 2003 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada which they referred to as the Heritage Classic.

As time has gone on, the Winter Classic as become a mainstay on New Year's Day here in the States. As for the Heritage Classic, the NHL had another one in Calgary in February 2011 which the King & I attended.

With that being said, the NHL decided to expand its plans to having more games outdoors this season. As a result, the Stadium Series was born. The league decided to have games in the three largest markets in the States. New York, Chicago & Los Angeles. They also added another game in Vancouver which is part of the Heritage Classic series. 

As for the Stadium Series, the King & I got to go to both of the games they decided to play at Yankee Stadium. The New York Rangers wound up being the visiting team in both games. That way they didn't lose any home games at the Transformed Madison Square Garden. In other words, it was a financial issue. They played against their local rivals, the New Jersey Devils & the New York Islanders.

National Anthem from our seats in section 420B row 5

The first game was on Sunday afternoon, January 26th. Despite the brutal winter we've experienced here in NYC, the game was played. It was delayed an hour at the start due to sun glare on the ice. The game time temperature was a balmy 24 degrees of which an announced crowd of 50,105 people braved the elements to be a part of history. Besides the King & I, a number of people we know we're there as well including Greg Venuto & his pal Paul Bosler who I arranged to get tickets for. They couldn't thank me enough for helping them out. I was more than happy to do so because that's who I am. If I can make a difference, I will. 

As for the game we saw, the Devils scored the game's first goal to take a 1-0 lead. They went up 3-1 late in the first period. The Rangers added a late goal to make it 3-2. In the second period, the Rangers scored four unanswered goals to take a 6-3 lead. They added one more in the third period thanks to Derek Stepan who scored on a penalty shot midway through the period to round out the scoring as the Rangers beat the Devils, 7-3 in front of a mixed crowd of hockey fans. Since the Ranger season ticket holders were forced to buy tickets to both games, there were slightly more Ranger fans at both games.

Wednesday night January 29th the King & I decided to do it again. I met the King there after work. We dressed for the occasion & we survived without a problem despite a game time temperature of 22 degrees. I wound up meeting my pal Eddie Pelle who went to the game too. We had dinner together at the New Sunflower, a Chinese restaurant a few blocks from Yankee Stadium. When I got up to my seat with the King in section 424 row 2 we had an empty seat which was filled by our other buddy Andrew Van Cleve who came up from Philadelphia to see the game.

View from section 424 row 2

 As for the game we saw, the Rangers & Islanders played a scoreless first period. The game remained that way until late in the second period. The Islanders got on the scoreboard first as Brock Nelson got one by Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead. It was short lived as the Rangers got the equalizer 40 seconds later to even the score at one with 47 seconds left in the period. In the third period, Dan Carcillo lit the lamp to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. That's the way it ended as the Rangers won again outdoors. They're now 3-0 when you include the win they had over the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2012 Winter Classic at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Stay tuned as I plan to do the rest of my w/o 1/27 in review when time allows me too.

Thank you for reading & following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

The Winter Classic Experience

Me in the Crowd at Winter Classic

On January 1, 2008 the NHL decided to stage a unique event that being the Winter Classic in Buffalo, New York. The Buffalo Sabres hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins at Ralph Wilson Stadium which is the home of the Buffalo Bills.

Thanks to my pals Andrew Kulyk and Peter Farrell who are Sabre season ticket holders, they were able to secure tickets for my friend the King and I to see this unique event.

The experience that day was priceless. Despite not feeling our best, we still braved the elements on this day to see hockey history in the making. With snow falling during the game, the ice needed to be repaired numerous times but that didn't stop the game from being a big hit. A record crowd of 71,000 were on hand to witness it.

The game wound up being decided in a shootout as the Penguins beat the Sabres, 2-1 as Sidney Crosby scored the game winner.

On January 1, 2009 the NHL decided to do another Winter Classic. This time they chose Wrigley Field in Chicago as the site of the event. The Chicago Blackhawks took on their original six rival, the Detroit Red Wings. Unfortunately I didn't get to witness this one in person. I did watch it on TV with deep regret.
Since the game was at a smaller venue, the ticket prices were rather pricey. That coupled with the fact I live in NYC, it's a long drive to Chicago and mother nature can always play her tricks. In addition, my friend the King who happens to be a Red Wing fan thought he was going to have to work so we decided it was better not to go.

Ironically we met up with Andrew Van Cleve a few years ago when we visited Chicago. He was at that Winter Classic. I wish we knew each other then.

As for the game that day, the Red Wings beat the hometown Blackhawks, 6-4 in the highest scoring Winter Classic game.

On January 1, 2010, the tradition continued. This time the Winter Classic was played at Fenway Park in Boston as the Philadelphia Flyers invaded Beantown to play the Bruins.

Once again the King and I decided to go. We wound up buying tickets at the last minute on Craiglist because we were concerned about the weather.

Thankfully mother nature cooperated. It turned out to be a beautiful winter day. The temperature was a comfortable 36 degrees which made for a wonderful setting. We had the privilege of sitting towards the back of the grandstand near first base which was the corner of the rink. We had the Green Monster staring us right in the face.

As for the game, the Flyers lead 1-0 into the third period. Late in the period, the Bruins evened the score at one. This one was decided in overtime as the Bruins found the net in the extra session as they sent the natives home happy, 2-1. It should be noted their were a number of Flyer fans in attendance as well who had a long ride home after the loss.

As for the King and I, since we didn't have a real rooting interest so we got to enjoy the outcome regardless of who won.

On January 1, 2011, the Winter Classic returned to a bigger venue. This one was played at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh which is the home of the Steelers. The Penguins hosted the Washington Capitals.

This game was originally scheduled to start at 1PM like the others. Unfortunately mother nature was up to her tricks again. This time the temperature was in the 40's and rain was expected. With that being said, they decided that with the rain suppose to clear out by the evening, they changed the starting time to 8PM. By doing so, this turned out to be the first Winter Classic in prime time.

As for the King and I, we got to go again. This time our friend Peter Agnew who has season tickets for the Capitals said he didn't want to go. He asked us if we wanted to buy the tickets he was offered. We instantly told him yes.

We wound up sitting in the upper level with other Capital fans. They did a nice job distributing the tickets for this game. It seemed like every other section was divided by each team's fans. By doing that it made for a fair view for everybody who was able to be part of this unique experience. They drew a crowd of 68,000.
As for the game, the hometown Penguins came up short as the Capitals won, 3-1.

This year New Year's Day came out on a Sunday. With that being said, the NHL decided to move their Winter Classic game to Monday, January 2nd instead.

This time they went back to the baseball park setting as they chose to have the Philadelphia Flyers host the game at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies. The Flyers played the New York Rangers in the latest installment of the Classic. The game was scheduled to start at 1PM but since the weather conditions weren't ideal they decided to move the starting time to 3PM.

The King and I once again got to take part in the festivities. We were also joined by our friend Andrew Van Cleve who recently moved to Philadelphia.

The King and I got tickets with the help of season ticket holders that we know. Andrew found a person on Craigslist who sold him a ticket for face value.

Surprisingly it seemed like their were a lot more Flyer fans than Ranger fans at the game. We happened to be sitting around a lot of Flyer fans. There were a lot of people dressed up in their Flyer colors throughout the ballpark.

Don't get me wrong, there were a good number of Ranger fans in the building but with the ticket prices being really pricey I think that prevented some people from going to the game.

The experience is different than seeing a hockey game indoors. The outdoor game makes for a once in a lifetime scenario for those who have some spare money to burn. If you like the game of hockey, I strongly suggest that you go to a Winter Classic so you can see the experience for yourself.

As for the game, the Flyers took a 2-0 lead in the second period after there was no scoring for the first half of the game. The Rangers cut the lead in half at 2-1 after two periods. During the intermission, I ran into a guy I knew from New York who happens to be a big time Ranger fan. He said and I quote "this game isn't over yet." He turned out to be right. The Rangers proceeded to tie the game at two and then they got the eventual game winning goal as the Rangers hung on for the 3-2 victory.

In retrospect, I may regret not going to Wrigley Field in 2009 but I've been to the last three in a row. I hope to be able to keep going to see this unique event year after year. Time will tell.

If you plan to go, please take into account that many of the seats are bad. That's the nature of setting up a rink in a baseball and/or football stadium.

In a baseball stadium, the rink usually runs from across the outfield behind second base.

In a football stadium, the rink is laid across the gridiron between the 20 yard lines.

The bottom line is this experiment is working as the NHL now has a day it can call its own.

In the future, if you like hockey New Year's Day is the day you can see the sport outdoors. Hopefully they'll chose different locations and teams so it's more fair to the rest of the country.

I hope I've given you a reason to see for yourself what the Winter Classic experience is all about.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman