As was mentioned here earlier, it will be the Flyers against the Bruins in the winter classic next January. That should bode well for the ratings again I would think. I understand also that NBC will have pretty much the same setup of coverage that they had this past season. Looking forward to the game from Fenway Park.

Long-range forecasts indicate a chance of snow in Boston for the Winter Classic. Even if it doesn't snow it certainly won't be warm. Weather-wise it would seem the NHL is getting lucky again (unless there's too much snow). And the Flyers have actually won 3 in a row now, so if they win Wednesday at the Rangers they'll have a winning record going into the game!

Best one yet IMO!! Both teams deserve a standing O. Flyers had many many chances, and probably should have won this, but Boston came on big time late in the 3rd and OT. Highly entertaining game to watch. I expect big news from the ratings....

Globe and Mail photo gallery from the Winter Classic in Beantown.

Boston.com photo gallery.

Video recap from NHL.com

Great game. Intense, face paced, strong hockey from two teams with traditions of it. The Fens looked fabulous too. Have enjoyed tuning in to this special event on a regular channel. Nice prep for the Olympics. What were the ratings, anyone know?

Heard the next one might be in New York. Rangers and ? (Caps maybe). Or, if they're not going to play one in Canada between the Maple Leafs and Canadiens, then have the Maple Leafs go to New York.

Didn't this whole idea get started when Calgary played Edmonton outside several years ago?

You must be thinking of the outdoor "Heritage" game played in Edmonton back in Nov '03 between the Oilers and Montreal Canadiens. The Flames have not been involved in an outdoor game yet. And since the Winter Classic became an annual event in 2008, all six teams have been based in the USA.

Somewhat off-topic, but since you brought up Edmonton and Calgary, there was a
nasty incident over a bar tab here involving the Oilers, after their loss to the Flames on New Year's Eve.

This year's Winter Classic overnight rating was 2.6 -- the same as in 2008 and down from 2.9 last year. I'm not sure if the early football games were more of a draw this year -- I read some speculation last week that Penn State-LSU might have an effect.

Well thats not too bad though. The people who didn't watch it really missed out on something special.

Some good points about it in this article. It mentions that locally the Penn State game (and the Mummers parade!?!) beat the Flyers.

The drop nationally isn't really that big a deal, but the league needs to be more careful with this to keep it from becoming a trend.