The Winter Classic is Coming to Seattle
The Winter Classic is the most anticipated regular-season NHL game each season.
It's an outdoor match played on New Year's Day. This season, the Pittsburgh Penguins went to Boston to take on the Bruins at Fenway Park.
The first Classic occurred between the Buffalo Sabers and Pittsburgh Penguins at Orchard Park, New York. It set a record for attendance at an NHL game with over 71 thousand fans.
The success was so massive it became an annual practice.
Due to the popularity, the NHL introduced the Staudin Series; multiple games each year are played at outdoor venues and host far more fans than an area ever could.
In addition to yesterday's game in Boston, the Carolina Hurricanes will host the New York Rangers at Carter Finley Stadium -- NC State's football stadium adjacent to PNC Arena.
As popular as the Stadium Series is, the Winter Classic is the crème de la crème of games.
In yesterday's Winter Classic, the Boston Bruins defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1. It was a tight game. The Penguins had concerns early as goal tender Tristan Jarry went down in the first period and the EBUG had to be activated.
DeSmith was fantastic as a backup, but his team lost despite letting two pucks pass.
Jake DeBrusk was responsible for both goals.
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2024 Winter Classic
Yesterday, the NHL announced the location of next year's Classic:
Seattle, Washington.
Seattle has an unbelievable fan base across all sports. This will undoubtedly be a brilliant game. The Kraken are having far better success this year than they did in their inaugural season.
The game will be played at T-Mobile Park, the Seattle Mariners stadium, and the Kraken will host the other newest NHL franchise, the Las Vegas Golden Nights.
This is a fantastic showcase and an excellent way for the NHL to show how incredible they have been at growing the game by having the two youngest franchises compete in the biggest regular-season game of the year.
It's a bold move by the league and will pay dividends. No other league could pull off such incredible growth so quickly. New teams don't pull such large fan bases too quickly.
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