Have a Hockey New Year

Watching the Winter Classic on Friday was pretty fun, and not just because it was the beginning of a much-needed three-day weekend. Though the snow when they practiced the day before was more picturesque, the weather was as good as you could hope for. (And they had some of the players wired for sound Thursday, leading to hearing two Bruins agree that it wasn't as cold outside as it is in their practice facility, that arena being notoriously freezing cold.) So here is my version of live-blogging, two days later.

• Bobby Orr and Bobby Clarke were the honorary captains of the teams, and Orr stood by the ice door and greeted each Bruin as he took his skate guards off and went on the ice. (The Globe said he hit them on the back as they went by. From where I sat, it looked a lot more like a pat on the ass. It's a hockey thing, maybe even a sports thing.)
  
• The anthems were just eh as far as I'm concerned. I like to hear a strong, deep voice belt out the anthem, and acoustic just didn't stir me. Nothing against James Taylor, and hey, I was happy they did the Canadian anthem too, but the performances? Eh.
• I really liked the Verizon hockey commercial:

• A fight? In the Winter Classic? Why is anyone shocked? I mean, how often do the Bruins and Flyers meet without a single fight? Old time Broad Street Bullies and Big Bad Bruins, modern-day Randy Jones almost kills Patrice Bergeron ... fighting happens when these two teams play.
  
• Tim Thomas lost his focus to let in that goal. Understandable, but still.
• They had to sing that stupid song. I hate that song. The Red Sox couldn't have picked a better song to rally around?
• Yes! Bruins tie it up near the end of the third. Whew.
• We go to overtime, with the Bruins on a power play.
• The weather guy in the stands is next to a guy dressed as ... Captain Morgan? Why? Can anyone enlighten me?
• Win! Marco Sturm was so happy, and when Bergeron joined the celebration, he was actually jumping up and down. Very cute.
• PS Tim Thomas goes to the Olympics, yay! According to yesterday's paper, they told him before the game; I disapprove of that. Oh well. Still glad he's going, and that gives the Bruins five* Olympians. Well done, Sturm, Bergeron, Krejci, Chara, and Thomas.

*Six! With the just-announced Bruins' signing of Miro Satan, who was named to Slovakia's team last week, we're up to 6. A few teams have 7 and one has 8, but 6 is plenty respectable.

And now, the Legends Classic yesterday. In a word, fun! But in another word, cold. And for the picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words folks:


You see a person wearing a (Bruins) turtleneck, a heavy, hooded (Bruins) sweatshirt, a warm, hooded coat, a hat, and a cowl, and still very chilly around the edges. My face was cold (the cowl didn't want to stay up; it wasn't designed to [she said defensively]). My legs were cold, despite double-thick long johns under my jeans. My hands were cold, and even my toes got cold: my boots are good, but not really meant for sitting still. Even two pairs of socks didn't help in the end.

Now, if you click on this shot to make it big, you should be able to see a lot more bare skin on some guys there in the middle. How many beers would you need to take off your shirt in the snow?


I can't even imagine. It made me colder just thinking about it. And the cold was plenty on its own. It snowed the whole time, too.



All the same, it was great fun. I haven't been to Fenway in probably 25 years, but seeing everyone bundled up was still funny. All the Bruins gear greatly outnumbering the Red Sox and Patriots. The vendors touting hot chocolate and chowder:


I imagine they don't push that as much in July? There were a few weather-specific signs, too:


The vista really was surreal:


There were famous Bruins, like my childhood favorite Terry O'Reilly:


And non-hockey-player celebrities, like Dennis Leary:


Meanwhile, Bobby Farrelly (of the Farrelly brothers) wore a modified goalie helmet to provide on-ice hydration:


And when Tim Robbins was interviewed and asked about his next movie, he said this wasn't the time to talk about that, and instead started a chant of Yankees Suck, always a good move at Fenway.

There were some jersey fouls in the crowd, of course. I don't even like the pink hats, with the possible exception of on little girls in pink coats and pink boots, so this pink-ification of one of our toughest players bugged me:

Ugh, a heart on the hip?

On the other hand, while I haven't even seen the movie Dumb and Dumber, I know that Cam Neely has a role in it, and this is a reference to him. Homage accepted.


And I would have been surprised not to see a Whalers jersey, in a crowd this size (announced as 33,166).


This one isn't exactly a jersey foul, but what is this hat supposed to be? Some sort of drooping moose?


Yes, an interesting mix. Like the day itself, eh?