Boys and girls across Canada and the northern US grow up shoveling off snow from frozen lakes and playing hockey every night until the sun sets. That is why the yearly outdoor NHL game is a perfect idea...it is the closest the players will ever come to going back to simpler times.
For the past 4 years the NHL Winter Classic has provided not only the players but the fans the opportunity to go back to their childhood. They might not be played on random lakes in the middle of the wilderness, but they are played in some pretty cool locales. first it was Ralph Willard Stadium in Buffalo. Then Wrigley Field, Fenway Park and Heinz Field. It has all been perfect..until now.
See, this year, they decided to not only go to Philadelphia for Ranger v Flyers. It is a match-up that was going to happen at some time (after all, New York-Philly is one of the fiercest rivalries in sports), but one that just pisses me off. In almost every other sport, I would value this is an awesome match-up, but when you are a Devils fan, this game just doesn't do it for you. I don't want either team to win - I want them all to get a 24-hour bug and not be able to play.
I know I am off my rocker in suggesting that the match-up should be any different. It will be great for tv ratings and really, it is a match-up of top 5 teams. It should be great, but really...Flyers-Rangers?? They aren't even the biggest rivals. Maybe twenty years ago, but now? Nah, I'm pretty certain both Flyers and Rangers fans would rather beat the Devils.
The reason? It's because the Devils have been the alpha dog for the past 15 years. Since the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994, the Devils have made the playoffs for 14 of 16 seasons with 9 division titles and 3 Stanley Cups. The Flyers have made the playoffs 15 times with 2 Stanley Cup losses and the Rangers have made the playoffs only 8 times. During that stretch, the Devils played the Flyers 4 times in the playoffs and the Rangers thrice. Meanwhile, the Flyers and Rangers have played only twice in the playoffs.
So the Devils have not only played the Flyers and Rangers more times in the playoffs, but they have been the most successful of the three. They need to be in the Winter Classic. But here is the problem - they are the New Jersey Devils, the team that killed the NHL, the team with less than 30 years of history, the team that no one wants to watch.
It's the reason why the Devils have been on NBC 0 times over the past three years while the Rangers and Flyers have combined to be on NBC 24 times. It's no different on Versus - the Devils have averaged 6.3 appearances over the past three seasons compared to 12 for the Rangers and 9.3 for the Flyers. The national media and the NHL hates the Devils. Last year might have been a down year, but the Devils are a playoff team again this year and would have been a great participant.
When the Winter Classic inevitably moves to Yankee Stadium in a year or two, I expect the Devils to be involved. It is only right (and it is much better than having to go to the city of Philadelphia to breath the air). As for this year, I will not watch a single second of the game and hope that it not only rains but that the ice conditions are terrible. Oh, and maybe the Philly fans will throw crap on the ice. That would be amazing and terrible at the same time.
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