Spontaneous Statutory Holiday & Winter Classic Pregame

As it turns out, I have January 2nd off because New Years' Day fell on a Sunday this year o_O Happy New Year! It's good to return to a regular schedule after all that gift wrapping, gift unwrapping, sickness being, early weight loss program planning for baseball, et cetera.

The Winter Classic between the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers begins in a few minutes. I say that sparingly, of course, since the league pushed the time of the January 2nd outdoor game to 3pm. Uncharacteristically, the weather in Philadelphia, or at least at Citizen Bank Park, which is the site of the game, is warmer than usual, so the league moved the start time back from 1pm.

I noticed the Rangers wearing fake retro jerseys for the game (?). I say fake retro because I don't remember the Rangers logo being so...BIG? The first logo common to Rangers fans and haters alike, but someone with Photoshop pulled the bottom of the logo to give the logo a pronounced curve.

I am a little disappointed with the Rangers as they waived the albeit controversial Steve Avery a week before the big game. I wrote about Steve Avery in his return to the New York Rangers' team roster last November, and hoped he could turn his game around and become the big time player the Detroit Red Wings expected him when they drafted Avery in 2001. To my knowledge, no one picked up his contract yet from off the waiver wire. The New York Rangers are the best team in the Eastern Conference right now, and there is enough depth in the lineup for coach John Tortorella and general manager Glen Sather to make this change.

I hope this does not dampen Steve Avery's spirit, and he continues to improve on and off the ice.

As for the Philadelphia Flyers, this game more than breaks the franchise record for attendance for a home game. The expectation is that the Philadelphia Flyers will win, but history is against the home team in the annual New Years' game. The road team won the contest three of the last four Classic games, as the players on the home team have the proverbial "gun to their heads". Expect the conference-leading Rangers to take chances and stay loose, but if the game is close in the later stages look for Van Riemsdyk and the Flyers to pull ahead. Otherwise, the league will push for the teams to take the game to a SHOOTOUT o_O