NHL Winter Classic 2012: 5 Reasons Why This Year's Game Was Boring

It’s official: The TV ratings for this year’s Winter Classic were the lowest in the history of the event. The game received a 2.4 rating, with 3.74 million viewers—down from last year’s game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals, which had a 2.8 rating and 4.57 million viewers.

Why did this drastic drop occur? There are a couple of potential reasons.

First, the game was held on January 2nd instead of its usual January 1st date. Since New Year's Day happened on the weekend this year, some people may have received Friday, December 30th off instead of the Monday.

Second, the game time was moved from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on January 1st by the NHL in response to weather forecasts, only a day prior. Some people may have not realized this, or they had another sports game to watch at that time instead, with the plethora of college football games taking place the same day.

How about this for a reason? The game itself was boring.

Why?, you ask (possibly also with an angry face). Well…

The Teams Took Too Long to Enter the Game

The first period of the 2012 Winter Classic resembled the beginning of a boxing match, where both fighters are just throwing jabs at each other to try and get their bearings and learn their opponent’s fighting style.

There just wasn’t very much pizzazz. 

Aside from a couple of nice scoring chances for Jaromir Jagr and Claude Giroux, the goalies weren’t tested very much, and the game wasn’t really being played at the usual fast pace we’ve become accustomed to in today’s NHL. Passes were also choppy for the most part, possibly due to the surface of the ice.

Boring Goals

The most exciting shots on goal in this game were ones that didn’t even go into the net.

Both the first goal by Brayden Schenn and the final game-winning goal by Brad Richards were tap-ins off rebounds. Not really much going on there. 

The second Mike Rupp goal was a floater of a shot that most house league goalies would have saved. 

Admittedly, the Giroux goal was a pretty backhand and Mike Rupp’s first goal looked nicer than it actually was because of the screen—but that’s about it.

No Overtime

Although he has since apologized, New York Rangers coach John Tortorella ripped the referees after the game, suggesting that “maybe they wanted it to get to overtime.”

Obviously, no one wants to see a game with one-sided officiating; but the controversial falling-on-puck penalty given to Ryan McDonagh was warranted. He fell on the puck in the crease and potentially saved a goal in the process—the refs had to make that call. 

Overtime would have made things more interesting, though. Of the four previous Winter Classics, two went beyond regulation time, one had 10 goals scored between the two teams and one featured the two most exciting players in the game at the time—Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. Each game has something to look back on. 

When people look back at this game, the only highlight they might remember is Danny Briere’s unsuccessful penalty shot. Overtime would have made the game more memorable.

No Fights

Whether you agree with fighting in hockey or not, the fact remains that most people that were watching this game reasonably expected a fight or two to break out, since the Flyers and Rangers are two of the most penalized teams in the NHL. 

There were a few scuffles during the game, including one at the end, but none that actually progressed into a full-out fight. 

Fights aren’t always fun to watch, nor are they necessary in order for a game to be exciting; but having one would have helped to ramp up the intensity.

Detached Atmosphere

There isn’t much that the NHL can do about this, but having the crowd so far away from the ice surface makes quite a difference, especially when you’re watching on TV.

One of the greatest times to be a hockey fan in Canada was in 2005 when CBC had a labour strike and aired Hockey Night in Canada without commentary. You really were able to hear all of the sounds of the game, including the crowd reaction to goals, penalties and shots. 

This isn’t a problem exclusive to this year’s game, but it’s something that needs to be fixed for the future. All it would take is some microphones angled towards the crowd for it to sound more like a hockey game. Perhaps they’ll get it right for next year.