During the 2007-2008 NHL season, the National Hockey League decided to try something new. On New Year's Day 2008, there would be a hockey game played outdoors instead of in the traditional closed rinks. On January 1, 2008, the Pittsburgh Penguins took on the Buffalo Sabres at Ralph Wilson Stadium (the home of the Buffalo Bills) and the event was such a large success that they decided to do it again. On New Year's Day 2009, the Chicago Blackhawks hosted the Detroit Red Wings at Wrigley Field in what was once again deemed a huge success. And just like that, a new tradition was born.
This year's matchup featured the NHL's two premier stars with Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins hosting Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. With two of the NHL's most prolific scorers involved, Crosby had 32 goals in 39 games entering play on Saturday while Ovechkin has never scored fewer than 46 in a season prior to this one, it seemed likely that one of these two would be the hero. As they say though, that's why they play the game. With two goals including the game winner, the star of the game for this year's Winter Classic was none other than Capital Right Winger, Eric Fehr who had just 5 goals on the year entering play and had scored only 43 goals in parts of 6 seasons with the Capitals. You've got to love how sports play out sometimes. The Capitals won the game 3-1 becoming the third visiting team in 4 years to win the Classic in front of over 68,000 fans.
Winter Classic History
1/1/2008 - Pittsburgh Penguins 2, Buffalo Sabres 1 (SO) - Ralph Wilson Stadium - 71,217 fans
1/1/2009 - Detroit Red Wings 6, Chicago Blackhawks 4 - Wrigley Field - 40,818 fans
1/1/2010 - Boston Bruins 2, Philadelphia Flyers 1 - Fenway Park - 38,112 fans
1/1/2001 - Washington Capitals 3, Pittsburgh Penguins 1 - Heinz Field - 68,111 fans
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