League cancels 2012 Bridgestone Winter Classic -NHL Lockout Update
The 2012 Bridgestone National Hockey League (NHL) Winter Classic event became the latest casualty of the deadlock between the league and Players’ Association, announced officially on Friday, November 2, 2012.
It was expected as soon as November kicked off, but most experts had cited that the league would be waiting until mid of the month to make any final decision due to the major loss which would be incurred by not having one of hockey’s greatest events of the
year played out.
For the league, it was the most logical decision to make since not going through with a labour contract by then would just wreck havoc for them financially and force them to bear even more losses, ranging in the millions.
All hockey fans look eagerly towards the NHL Winter Classic, especially Detroit and Toronto followers as it was scheduled to be a historic matchup between the Red Wings and Maple Leafs at the Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
"The logistical demands for staging events of this magnitude made today's decision unavoidable. We simply are out of time," said NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, according to NHL.com. "We are extremely disappointed, for our fans and for all those affected,
to have to cancel the Winter Classic and Hockeytown Winter Festival events."
In order to keep their spirits high, the deputy commissioner also went on to say that they would plan the next event at the same venue and most likely, between the same teams.
Fans were not the only ones looking forward to the event, but players from both sides were excited to get in front of over 100,000 expected hockey diehards and be part of a historic day.
"It's definitely very disappointing," Red Wings goaltender, Jimmy Howard, said about the cancelled Winter Classic according to ESPN. "Not only was I looking forward to it but so were all my friends and family.”
According to sources, the decision was made on the very same day it was cancelled as a high level meeting was held in the NHL offices in New York. The NHL Winter Classic being cancelled is certainly not a good sign on how both sides are working out a deal,
signalling towards the entire regular season as the next target.
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