Boston Bruins: 4 Ideas for Future Outdoor Games

While it is best that the NHL start spreading the wealth of the Winter Classic a little broader in the short-term future, the Boston Bruins will likely get involved again before this decade is history.

Being America’s longest-tenured NHL franchise leaves no shortage of enticing matchups for the day that is dedicated to the game’s and the league’s heritage. And the assortment of ideal venues in and around Boston all but leaves a pair of matchmaking columns between potential Bruins’ outdoor opponents and locations.

Some of the following suggestions would require unexpected cooperation with other sports as well as a few amendments to the unwritten Winter Classic constitution. But just remember that there was a time when playing any high-profile hockey games outdoors was considered an absurd concept.

Bruins vs. Sabres at Gillette Stadium

Boston and Buffalo once constituted a bitter Adams Division rivalry. Up through the conclusion of this season, they continue to be entertaining competitors in the Northeast Division. And going forward, they shall cross paths just as regularly as tenants of what is at least tentatively dubbed “Conference C.”

Furthermore, the New England and Western New York fanbases share a similar animosity over the gridiron with the Patriots-Bills rivalry that has existed for half a century.

Enough said. The only trick here is averting a conflict with Week 17 of the NFL season, but the Sabres themselves and the Pittsburgh Penguins have pulled it off. And by the looks of it, the Bruins have earned more than enough respect from their neighbors to garner the Patriots’ permission.

Bruins vs. Rangers at Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium or Citi Field

Another not-so-subtle nod to one of Boston’s best rivalries in another sport, although depending on the longevity of college football’s Pinstripe Bowl, this proposal could be rendered irrelevant.

Take into account the fact that the Winter Classic has already stopped in at Fenway and that the Rangers just participated as the visitor. If New York City’s American League venue is unavailable, then the only hope would be to use the ballpark belonging to baseball’s equivalent of the Islanders and convince everyone to use their imagination.

But still, it’s an Original Six matchup and it’s Boston-New York. When and if the time comes to pitch this Winter Classic card, the NHL and the two clubs concerned would need to show they care and pull the necessary strings.

Bruins vs. Hurricanes at Rentschler Field

The NHL’s many southern U.S.-based teams will have to be integrated into this new ritual sooner or later. And those of us who realize and accept the futility of trying to revive the Hartford Whalers can at times feel so cruel pointing it out.

For those two reasons, why not throw former Whalers’ owner Howard Baldwin and friends a bone for a day?

Baldwin, as one may recall, orchestrated the memorable two-week Whaler Hockey Fest last February at East Hartford’s Rentschler Field. The Fest’s two marquee events, appropriately enough, were a Boston-Hartford alumni game and a regular-season renewal of the current Bruins-Hartford rivalry, namely the AHL’s Providence Bruins visiting the Connecticut Whale.

An integral part of the Winter Classic is honoring the past of the participating franchises, so why not bring up the Hurricanes, dress them in green and pit them against their New England rivals? Why not give starving Nutmeg State puckheads some authentic NHL action?

Or, seeing as anything is technically possible, there is the infinitesimal chance that this idea could directly lend Hartford the NHL-worthy persona it has hoped to replenish since 1997.

Bruins vs. Canadiens at a select Montreal venue

As the city’s landscape looks now, this could be problematic. But like the Bruins-Rangers proposition, passion could surely conquer all.

Molson Stadium’s seating capacity is negligibly larger than that of the Bell Centre and the CFL’s Alouettes only play there now due to the shabby persona of Olympic Stadium. The fact that the latter venue’s lone primary tenant fled for someplace smaller suggests that it does not foster the same civic ambivalence as Fenway Park.

But still, wouldn’t this make for a great Heritage Classic? Although that off-and-on game has strictly been for Canada-based franchises, the NHL will need to resort to the occasional American visitor to give the event any lasting traction.

And when you’re bringing arguably the most time-honored Original Six rivalry outside in front of the game’s most zealous fan base, do you really think you’re sacrificing any potential gains?

This hypothetical arrangement could not only draw as healthy a television audience on CBC as any other Heritage Classic, but would surely garner noticeable brownie points via American viewers on the newly-branded NBC Sports Network.