It was announced Tuesday night that the game will take place in Queens, with Buffalo participating as the home team. This marks the 10th Winter Classic, which is kind of ironic that the Sabres played in the first one, and are now playing here again ten years later. Buffalo is playing this game as the home team because of rules surrounding the Rangers playing all home games at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers played in the 2012 Winter Classic in Philadelphia and took part in Stadium Series games against the Devils and Islanders at Yankee Stadium in 2014.
Out of the, soon to be, ten games played as the winter Classic, six of them will have been played in Baseball stadiums. We had Wrigley Field in 2009, Fenway Park in 2010, Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia in 2012, Nationals Park in Washington in 2015, Busch Stadium in St Louis in 2017 and now Citi Field in Queens in 2018. For Citi Field, hosting an event such as this is nothing new, at least as far as hosting non baseball events go. Citi Field has hosted sold-out concerts by Beyonce, Dave Matthews Band, Paul McCartney and the Zac Brown Band, as well as soccer matches between European clubs and national teams. The venue's next challenge will be constructing an outdoor hockey rink.
It really is very cool to have a Winter Classic held in the New York City area, something I feel is long overdue. Its fantastic that its finally coming to New York and that the Rangers are playing in the game. There is just one little bug a boo I have with the team selection.
Now Yankee Stadium hosted the Stadium Series with the Islanders, Rangers and Devils the first year of the Stadium Series, which made a lot of sense having all three teams playing against each other. But why, in all good conscience, is this game Rangers-Sabres? I'm not taking anything away from the Sabres, they are a New York team. However this game is in the New York-Metro area, the Sabres are not a inkling down here in this area of the state, no offense to Sabres fans. This game needs to be Islanders-Rangers I'm sorry but it should have been.
I mean think about it, the Islanders are based in the area, much like the Rangers. I know its not exactly the same thing, but come on the Islanders are a stronger connection down here then the Sabres. This to me seems almost like a slap in the face to the Islanders, by putting the Sabres into this hockey game. For the NHL to be smart, show at least you have a little support in the Islanders franchise and give them something to show you at least care somewhat about the teams that play in your league. As an Islanders fan, I'm a little insulted honestly. When I heard the game was being played in Queens, I figured Islanders vs Rangers, or at least Rangers vs Devils. Both great matchups, great rivals. Why not put a big rivalry on a big stage? You did it with Hawks vs Wings in 2009, you did it with, Flyers vs Rangers in 2012, you did it in 2014 with Leafs vs Wings and you did it last year with Blues vs Hawks in St Louis. This Islanders and Rangers matchup should have been the next most logical stop.
I know its ten years of the game, and the Sabres played in the first one, but they don't need to be in this one if its in Queens. It should have been Islanders vs Rangers. Its an outdoor game, in prime time, in an area where the Islanders are trying to build a possible rink and its in Islanders country, more or less. That's the way it should have been and I think the league dropped the ball on the matchup. The concept is still cool ten years later, but the matchup isn't exactly a thriller for the area. If you wanted it that way the game should have been in Buffalo, not down here.
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