(Photo by David L. Ryan/Globe Staff/File)
by Dakota Antelman
According to DJ Bean of WEEI, the NHL has finalized plans for the Bruins to host the Montreal Canadians in the 2016 Winter Classic at Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium.
The WEEI report acknowledges that the league is yet to make a public announcement on the subject. However, it does not come completely out of the blue.
Last month, TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported via Twitter that the Bruins were favorites to host the 2016 Winter Classic. Though no venue was specified in that report, both Gillette Stadium and Fenway Park were names mentioned as potential host venues.
Fenway hosted the game in 2010 when the Bruins toppled the Flyers 2-1 in overtime. The aura of Fenway as an iconic stadium combined with the rivalry between the Bruins and Flyers drew in the largest viewership that the Winter Classic had seen in its then three year history.
Six years later however, the NHL appears to be leaning towards bigger venues in its selection of Winter Classic hosts. Though the Red Sox organization expressed interest in getting the game back, the potential for nearly double the ticket sales at Gillette Stadium seemed to sway the scale in its favor.
In terms of the matchup, the NHL is positioning itself for a bounce back year after the ratings flop that was the 2015 Winter Classic.
The long engraved rivalry between the Bruins and Canadians will be a major story throughout the league as the game approaches while it will also likely draw in far more Canadian viewers than has been the case in the first nine Winter Classics.
The Canadians will be just the second Canadian team to play in the Winter Classic.
For Bruin Dougie Hamilton, the prospect of playing in this storied game is delightful. He is part of a brand drew generation of NHL players who have grown up watching the Winter Classic and dreaming of playing in it.
He spoke Monday on the topic.
“I think it would be awesome,” Hamilton said. “It’s something that you kind of follow every year. In [recent] years I watched the HBO show in juniors and kind of pictured what the NHL was like. Then watching the games, it’s obviously special with the different jerseys and the venue and the crowd and rivalries and everything; it’s something you’d really want to be a part of.
“I think when [speculation] came out last year and we kind of thought it was going to be this year, I think it was kind of disappointing that it wasn’t us. Hopefully we get it and have that chance. It [would be] something to really forward to next year.”€
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