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| Date | January 1, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Ralph Wilson Stadium | |||||||||||||||||||||
| City | Orchard Park, New York | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 71,217 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2008 NHL Winter Classic (known via corporate sponsorship as the AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic) was an outdoor ice hockey game played in the National Hockey League (NHL) on January 1, 2008, at Ralph Wilson Stadium near Buffalo, New York. It was the league's inaugural Winter Classic game, and was contested between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres; the Penguins won, 2–1, in a shootout on a goal by captain Sidney Crosby.[1] The event was the NHL's second outdoor regular season game (following the 2003 Heritage Classic in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), and the first outdoor regular season professional ice hockey game to be played in the United States. Due to the snowy conditions, the game was at the time colloquially referred to as the "Ice Bowl" by residents of the area and Sabres' fans. The event was sponsored by AMP Energy,[2] and was televised in the United States on NBC and in Canada on CBC and RDS.
The game, which was played at a temporary ice rink built on the football field, set an NHL attendance record of 71,217.[3] The Sabres held a Winter Classic "house party" at HSBC Arena (now KeyBank Center) during the game where another 11,000 fans saw the game shown live on the arena's video scoreboard with synched-up audio from the team's radio coverage.[4][5] The Buffalo Sabres Alumni Hockey Team played a pre-game at the HSBC Arena as part of the house party festivities.[6] Buffalo Sabres anthem singer Doug Allen sang the Canadian national anthem, as is customary at Sabres home games.[7] Irish tenor Ronan Tynan performed "God Bless America" before the game at the stadium.
The success of the event has led to subsequent outdoor hockey games being scheduled and helped establish the Winter Classic as an annual NHL tradition.
- ^ Podell, Ira (January 1, 2008). "Crosby lifts Penguins in Winter Classic". Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 10, 2008. Retrieved February 16, 2008.
- ^ "Sabres and Penguins to Play Outdoors on New Year's Day" (Press release). Marketwire. September 17, 2007. Archived from the original on December 18, 2007. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
- ^ Burnside, Scott (January 1, 2008). "Winter Classic: We're live from Buffalo". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2008. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
- ^ "Sabres to Host Winter Classic House Party". Buffalo Sabres. December 1, 2007. Archived from the original on January 2, 2008. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
- ^ "Happy, Happy New Year". January 2, 2008. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved January 15, 2008.
- ^ Pitts, Matt (January 1, 2008). "Fans Fill HSBC Arena For Winter Classic House Party". wgrz.com. WGRZ-TV. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
- ^ "Due to wind, Winter Classic will have different format than other games". canadaeast.com. Canadian Press. December 31, 2007. Retrieved February 7, 2008.