A year after the Winter Classic was played in Pittsburgh it looks like the NHL is considering crossing the Keystone State for the 2012 edition.
Citizens Bank Park is a “very real possibility” to play host to the annual New Years Day game, a source to the Daily News.
The Eagles (assuming a season happens as planned) are scheduled to play the Redskins at Lincoln Financial Field on Jan. 1 but that could actually play in the advantage of the Phillies and CBP, according to the Daily News.
Even though the 2011 Winter Classic at the Steelers' Heinz Field in Pittsburgh was considered a success, the NHL apparently prefers the coziness and layout of a ballpark as opposed to a football stadium.
As reported in early January, there is very little chance the NHL will stick with New Year's Day for the 2012 Winter Classic. Even though the 4-year-old event has always been held on the first of the year, 2012 would be the first year that falls on a Sunday - and no TV entity has much interest in taking on the NFL, a ratings behemoth.
So basically it seems that IF this happens and it still seems to be a big IF, look for it to happen on the Dec. 31 or maybe even as a Monday night game on Jan. 2.
The Flyers of course played at Fenway Park against the Bruins back in 2010.
For now let’s file this one under the rumor category and just hope that IF the Flyer take the ice for the Winter Classic that they have a Stanley Cup title to brag about.
