* Classic impact: Pittsburgh center Erik Christensen said he hopes the Winter Classic will spark interest in the NHL around the United States. For that to happen, Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller said, viewers will need to appreciate the game’s speed, skill and history.
“Hopefully they get a sense that it’s a very traditional game. It’s been around a long, long time,” Miller said. “It can be exciting. We have two young teams with a lot of talent. Hopefully everybody gets to showcase a little bit of their talent – and the Penguins not so much.”
* Dealing with the elements: Dan Craig, NHL facilities operations manager, was busy Monday making final preparations on the ice and preparing for possible snowfall today. First, his eight-person crew cleared off snow that fell Sunday night. “We will come back in (this morning) and we will do what we did (Monday), and just stay on top of it,” Craig said. “The machines are ready to go.”
Craig is unconcerned about wind, since cables will hold the tall glass in place. The wind also should help with snow removal. “With the wind, (snow) goes right along the wall,” he said. “So it’s really easy to take one pass with the machine along the outside wall and pick up 90 percent of it.”
His crew will skate onto the ice to evaluate conditions during timeouts. On-ice officials will determine if more work will be needed. “I know if there is a little issue,” Craig said, “we will be able to take care of it.”
Players were impressed with the ice during Monday’s practice. Goaltenders quickly adjusted to sight lines and the potential for glare. “I thought it was great,” Sabres goaltender Jocelyn Thibault said.
* Unique rule changes: The teams will switch ends with 10 minutes left in the third period and, if necessary, with 2½ minutes left in overtime. Play will stop on an official’s hard whistle.
Penguins center Sidney Crosby said he hopes the whistle blows with the puck loose in the neutral zone, not during a quality scoring chance. “But I think that’s probably the most fair way to do it,” he said.
The length of timeouts could vary based on the weather and ice conditions. If the game reaches a shootout, goaltenders can choose to defend either goal or the same goal.
Feeling right at home: Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff played on outdoor rinks until he was 13 years old. At that time, donations raised through walk-a-thons over a roughly four-year period led to a roof over the rink in his hometown of Warburg, Alberta – 40 miles southwest of Edmonton.
Yet, residents relied on Mother Nature to create the ice, he said recently. He recalled skating down the road from his home to the rink about a half-mile away. “The road was frozen over,” Ruff said. “It never got cleaned off with an icy snow mixture. … It was a little hard, but we would actually skate to the rink.”
He often played on a frozen dugout, a half-acre body of water on his family’s farm. “You’d put a steel net in one end. You had a rubber puck and you had four or five guys who played all day long,” he said. “That was more fun than really going to the rink.” He also spoke of skating in ditches along railway tracks.
* Positive response: Players are happy with the retro jerseys they will wear today. The Penguins’ powder blue sweaters hail from the 1960s and ’70s. The Sabres wore their blue, gold and white sweaters from the 1970s to the mid-1990s. “The guys are saying they like it a lot,” Penguins goaltender Ty Conklin said.
* Speaking of Conklin: He will start in net today, three days after shutting out Buffalo in Pittsburgh on Saturday. But not being re-signed in the offseason isn’t his motivation to beat the Sabres.
“I looked at it as going to Pittsburgh was a good opportunity,” Conklin said. “I would have been open to (returning to Buffalo). But things have a way of working themselves out.”
* Classic snow date: If league officials postpone the game because of inclement weather, it will be played on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Fans are encouraged to retain their tickets throughout today’s game in order to enter the stadium on Wednesday.
* An important game: Players understand they will face distractions surrounding the game. But they haven’t forgotten the importance of winning. Pittsburgh (42 points) is tied for sixth in the Eastern Conference. Buffalo (40 points) is tied for ninth. The top eight teams qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“Two points is two points, no matter what you’re dealing with,” Christensen said.
* On opposite sides: Miller and Penguins winger Adam Hall were Michigan State teammates when the Spartans faced rival Michigan in the Cold War on Oct. 6, 2001. The crowd of 75,000 was the most prominent recollection from that game at MSU’s Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich.
“Being a young hockey player, walking out there, it was pretty overwhelming to have 75,000 people going crazy,” Miller said during a recent conference call. Said Hall, “I just remember the crowd noise, just the sheer number of people. There’s nothing quite like it.”
* Around the rink: Defenseman Jaroslav Spacek will serve as Sabres’ captain this month. Forwards Jochen Hecht and Jason Pominville will be assistants. … Buffalo Bills head coach Dick Jauron attended the Sabres’ practice on Monday. … League officials chose to pile snow all around the rink, apparently to create a wintry feel to the game.
– Victor Fernandes
