Winter Classic

I love hockey -  it is my favorite sport.  We have season tickets to the Carolina Hurricanes and often watch a couple of games a night with the Center Ice package on cable.  This year we got HBO just to be able to watch 24/7 Flyers/Rangers.  When the powers that be pushed the Winter Classic back until 3:00pm, I didn't mind because NBC said they would still begin broadcasting from Philadelphia at 1:00pm.  Imagine my surprise when I suffer through the end of the Tournament of Roses Parade to find out my local NBC17 decided they would air a repeat of Ellen and two episodes of Judge Judy!  To say I was annoyed would be an understatement.  We are a hockey market and we have an NHL team that is trying to grow a small but very loyal fan base and you take one of the most talked about and advertised games and instead of showing a live extra long pre-game show you put on repeats?  After a few minutes of outrage I calmly called our local NBC17 to ask why and found someone who answered the phone with a rehearsed response - no sympathy or explanation. She just kept telling me the game was pushed back until 3:00pm and I wouldn't miss the game.  I explained that I understood all of that but know for a fact that NBC is broadcasting a live pre-game program to its affiliates and I wanted to know why NBC17 didn't want to air it and she had no answer!  I also noticed on my twitter feed that some in the Hurricanes organization were just as upset as I was and tweeted the phone number for the station.  I hope they got a flood of angry calls from hockey fans in the Raleigh area that were deprived of this once a year event!

Watching the last three weeks of 24/7 Flyers/Rangers I was super excited to watch the game today and it didn't disappoint.  I enjoy seeing behind the scenes of the Flyers and Rangers but along the way I found myself liking some of the players I hate when they play the Canes.  I have a fantasy hockey team and am the proud owner of Lunqvist of the Rangers and Giroux of the Flyers so I already had a soft spot for them but I am shocked how my opinions of some other players changed from watching the show.  I am not saying I am a fan of any of these players now but I no longer think Hartnell is a monster with no heart and every time I see Callahan get hit I hope his Grandmother isn't too upset.  The game was fun to watch.  I don't know how I feel about the Mike Rupp salute after his first goal.  On one hand kinda crappy to do in front of Jagr and his fans but then again it certainly got his team fired up and into the game.  The Briere penalty shot was exciting and I can't imagine how that place would have erupted if he had gotten it past Lundqvist.  Like most hockey fans I like a good hard fought game and I think this was as good of one as you can expect on outdoor ice in that atmosphere and hype.  At the end of it I had a goal from Giroux and a goalie win from Lundqvist for my fantasy team so not too bad.