Penguins win Winter Classic.

The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 in a shootout to win the "Winter Classic," an outdoor hockey game yesterday. 71,217 people were at the game, held at Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium, making it the largest crowd to ever watch an NHL game.


Sidney Crosby before he scores the game-winning goal in the shootout. Look, goalie Ryan Miller is wearing a cap he made from a hockey sock. Interestingly, both goalies had played in outdoor hockey games before.

I mean, most to see a game in person, in a stadium, at one time. But I think about 70,000 saw the game on TV. It was competing against the Capital One Bowl (Michigan vs. Florida) and the Gator Bowl (Virginia vs. Texas Tech), plus whatever other activities take place on New Year's Day. The NHL is pretty much irrelevant in the US this point, and is less popular than golf, tennis, NASCAR, and pro wrestling. Game 3 of the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals was the lowest-rated prime-time program in the history of NBC. Hard to believe, because what American doesn't care about Anaheim vs. Ottawa?


Ty Conklin stops Henrik Tallinder.

I stole the last two photos here, from Yahoo Sports, but unfortunately they don't organize the photos into separate galleries. I'm sure some will turn up later. Anyway, as you can see it was snowing, and the players wore retro jerseys. Throwback jerseys in professional sports and on rich black people are terribly overdone, but the Penguins' blue jerseys (1968-1972) look really nice in this situation.

Buffalo and Pittsburgh were chosen to play in the 2008 Winter Classic last season, when both teams were really good. This season both teams are at the bottom of the Atlantic Conference, but are both still over .500. And Sidney Crosby, last season's MVP, is still considered among the best in the game. Shame I've never seen Crosby, Malkin, Stall, or any of the younger guys play. Last time I lived in Western Pennsylvania the Penguins' big stars were Brian Holzinger and Luke Richardson Rico Fata, and the team was really really close to leaving town. It's been a pretty nice turnaround for a team and for a fanbase that, not too long ago, didn't really care that the team would soon be playing in Las Vegas, Kansas City, or Hamilton.

Hockey fans aren't coming to this blog for the latest in NHL news, so there's no need for all kinds of links here. I just wanted to add that you can re-read a live blog of the game from AOL Sports here and from Barry Melrose Rocks here, if you're interested.

Interesting side note, I haven't seen a hockey game since June 5, 2006, when I ventured into the shithole that is Itaewon. That was Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals between Carolina and Edmonton, and you may remember that Edmonton was up 3-0, that Carolina eventually tied it 4-4, and that, after Edmonton goalie Dwayne Roloson went out with an injury, Ty Conklin came in with a few minutes, misplayed the puck with 32 seconds left, and allowed Carolina to score the game-winning goal. Pittsburgh fans are not confident about the goaltending situation this season.


The Sabres' mascot makes merry with the home crowd. Browse photos on Yahoo Sports.

Edit: Eh, what the hell, here are a couple more links. The first is little write-up from one of my favorite bloggers, Mondesi's House:

But in a day filled with Brady Quinn commercials and images of Lance Armstrong managing a Dick's store, Sidney Crosby once again managed to steal the show. The Flawless One even overcame the only visible part of his game that might need work, the shootout, to bring back a shootout victory and two hard-earned points to Pittsburgh. For Penguin fans, it was the perfect way to ring in the New Year.

The second is a little photo gallery from ESPN.