Friday, January 01, 2010

Boston Hosts & Wins the 2010 Winter Classic

Happy New Year! We're finally into 2010 and there's no better way to start off the year than the outdoor game we know as the Winter Classic. The Classic is turning out to be quite the good bit of marketing for the league, which has done well to improve the image of the game over the past couple seasons, both in Buffalo and Chicago.

How did the game play out, you ask?


Without a doubt, Fenway Park was a great back drop for the game on the television screen, it looked like the perfect day for a game outside. The Flyers & Bruins in their retro outfits were pretty awesome, which I still get the chance to give two away in this year's Draft, so now that you've had a look at them, you're probably really excited to get one, eh?

It certainly wasn't a high scoring affair at Fenway Park, with the Bruins winning the game 2-1 in overtime. The Flyers opened the scoring in the second period and the score held up until late in the third period, when the Bruins finally gave their fans something to cheer about at home. The overtime period was back & forth and really exciting, all before the Bruins capped off the game in overtime.

Since it was such a low scoring game, the Draft really suffered with the same lack of scoring, but the Sheet got a little bit of help with most of the goals. Danny Syvret (pictured) got credit for the first goal of the game for the Flyers, but that will likely get changed to pool player, Jeff Carter. Scott Hartnell also added an assist, which made two points for the pool on that goal. That was all that would come from the Flyers though, despite having so many players in the pool playing.

Mark Recchi and Marco Sturm were the two goal scorers for the Boston, but neither player was chosen in the Draft this year... or the Waiver Draft for that matter. Picking up assists in the game were Derek Morris, David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara... all of whom made the Draft pool lists. So, saying that... no goals were credited to the Draft, yet.

The winning goalie did turn out to be a Draft player, as Tim Thomas got the nod for Boston and he beat non-Draft goalie, Michael Leighton in the game. Thomas gets the 2 points for the win after a 24-save effort.

If there was a competition within the Draft for most points in the Winter Classic, Ryan would come away with the top spot in this pseudo-competition. He has Thomas and Bergeron in the pool this year, giving him 3 points in the game. Five other teams in the pool had a point each.

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