Sabres Penguins New Year's Day Outdoor Game - Detroit Pistons Fan Community

buddahfan · #1 (**permalink**) 12-28-2007, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Outdoor hockey celebrates Buffalo's culture

12/28/2007 12:17 AM
By Erik Brady, USA TODAY

(USA TODAY) -- Buffalo has two seasons, an old vaudeville gag goes.

Winter and the Fourth of July.

The outdoor game between the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins on New Year's Day (NBC, 1 p.m. ET) honors both of Buffalo's vaudevillian seasons: It will be a wintry mix of fireworks and thermal underwear.

The game is billed by the NHL as the "Winter Classic" but is better known by locals as the "Ice Bowl." More than 73,000 will watch at Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the NFL's Bills. The Sabres say they could sell 50,000 tickets more.

That's because in Buffalo this game is more than a mere event. It is a celebration of the city, its hockey culture and its Northernness.

In much of the USA, hockey doesn't matter. Here, where mothers lace their kids' skates in the dark at dawn on chilly winter mornings, little matters more.

Outdoor hockey celebrates Buffalo's culture

mikhail1973 · #2 (**permalink**) 12-29-2007, 01:26 AM

It is truly a North American game. People down south and on the West coast don't really have the passion and the roots to be interested in the game as much since it is warm and you don't have any nature created skating rinks like you'd see in Minnesota or New York.

buddahfan · #3 (**permalink**) 12-30-2007, 02:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikhail1973

It is truly a North American game. People down south and on the West coast don't really have the passion and the roots to be interested in the game as much since it is warm and you don't have any nature created skating rinks like you'd see in Minnesota or New York.

I was born and raised in Buffalo. Always has been a good hockey town and they even had an NBA franchise once before it was moved to San Diego.

mikhail1973 · #4 (**permalink**) 12-30-2007, 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buddahfan

I was born and raised in Buffalo. Always has been a good hockey town and they even had an NBA franchise once before it was moved to San Diego.

You've got that right. I was in Buffalo once and can see how hockey could be popular there.

roscoe36 · #5 (**permalink**) 12-31-2007, 06:33 AM

Outdoor games are very special. If it's anything like the last one they had in Canada, the atmosphere is very intimate and personal.

buddahfan · #6 (**permalink**) 12-31-2007, 01:23 PM

Quote:

As Bills' players clean out their lockers Monday at the team's practice facility, the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins will take to the newly installed rink inside the adjacent stadium. Both teams will hold a practice session, trying to get acclimated to outdoor conditions. On New Year's Day, the Sabres and Penguins will face off in the AMP Energy Winter Classic, the National Hockey League's first outdoor regular season game in the United States. Crews have spent the past week building the rink from scratch on the football field.

More than 70,000 tickets have been sold for the game, scheduled to begin just after 1 p.m. The National Weather Service has forecast occasional snow, but mainly after 3 p.m., with a high temperature near 33 degrees and breezy conditions. Winds are expected to increase to between 20 and 23 miles per hour. Because of the anticipated windy conditions, the NHL will split the game into four periods, with the third period stopping at the 10-minute mark, allowing the teams to change ends.

Bills confirm Levy exit; NHL takes to stadium - Business First of Buffalo:

buddahfan · #7 (**permalink**) 12-31-2007, 07:22 PM

ESPN: The Worldwide Leader In Sports

Darth Tater · #8 (**permalink**) 12-31-2007, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roscoe36

Outdoor games are very special. If it's anything like the last one they had in Canada, the atmosphere is very intimate and personal.

Leave it to Roscoe.

Most guys take a girl to a romantic dinner or a play to get the mood right.

BUT Roscoe tries to get intimate and personal at a bloody hockey game.

No wonder he never gets any...

Our Cannuckian friends kill me.

buddahfan · #9 (**permalink**) 12-31-2007, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth Tater

Leave it to Roscoe.

Most guys take a girl to a romantic dinner or a play to get the mood right.

BUT Roscoe tries to get intimate and personal at a bloody hockey game.

No wonder he never gets any...

Our Cannuckian friends kill me.

We all have our favorite things that make us want to get intimate. Variety among consenting adults in great.

Darth Tater · #10 (**permalink**) 01-01-2008, 02:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buddahfan

We all have our favorite things that make us want to get intimate. Variety among consenting adults in great.

I know the sheep was an adult. But I'll have to ask Roscoe if it consented.

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