Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers ready for Friday preview of 2012 Winter Classic -NHL Special
The National Hockey League (NHL) Winter Classic is always one of the most exciting parts of the season as the two teams who are announced to be competing each other on the exclusively created ice on a special platform, feel a sense of rivalry right after
the season kicks off.
In less than 24 hours now, the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers, will be going head-to-head in what is deemed to be a preview of the 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic on January 2, but actually is a regular season matchup.
It might be one of the biggest matches of the regular season yet as both teams are leading in the Eastern Conference and are practically one of the oldest and biggest rivalries in the entire league.
For many diehard fans and the players, the NHL Winter Classic is much more than a game, it is more important that Christmas shopping or even spending time enjoying the holidays, the event is one of its kind that happens only once a year.
"I don't think anybody has Christmas on their mind," New York player, Brandon Dubinsky, said. "I haven't even finished my shopping yet, and I don't plan to until that game's over."
The two teams will be meeting at the Madison Square Garden on Friday like usual in New York, but the Winter Classic is scheduled to take place at the Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, in a specially designed ice rink, which will be interesting and thrilling
to see indeed.
"There's a lot of buildup with the show, with the Classic and all that stuff. But for us, there's two teams at the top of the conference right now and four points at stake," Dubinsky added. "That’s the way we're going to approach and that's what's going
to get us excited and make the game intense and live up to all the buildup that's going to come with it."
At the moment, Philadelphia leads the Eastern Conference with 46 points and a 21-8-4 record for one of the best in the league. They are below the league leading, Chicago Blackhawks, who have 48 points by two.
New York Rangers on the other hand have 44 points and currently are sitting in the fourth number place. The Rangers are looking to take over the Flyers in the upcoming days as they presently are on a three-game winning streak and by the looks of it, they
can easily gain those extra points which would put them on top.
Another interesting aspect of the game would be the clashes of Stanley Cup winning coaches. John Tortorella, who heads the Rangers, won his Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning back in 2004 after a tough competition against Calgary Flames.
Peter Laviolette, joined the Philadelphia organisation nearly a year after Tortorella and also won a Stanley Cup with his former team, the Carolina Hurricanes, coincidently in the next season in which Tampa Bay were defending the championship.
For fans, Friday will be one of those days they certainly look forward to since seeing two big rivals face-off in the season is as exciting as it would be seeing teams play for the cup in the Stanley Cup Finals.
The winner will definitely have an advantage entering the Winter Classic but looking back at history, it always is not the case.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
Tags: