2010 Winter Classic at Fenway Park in Boston

On January 1st the legendary Fenway Park in will be home to an open-air hockey game that will see the Boston Bruins take on the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2010 Bridgestone Winter Classic.

I won’t be in Boston however I will be in Iowa (where I was for last year’s Winter Classic) and I’ll be sure to bring along my Bruin’s jersey for the occasion.

The last time I was at Fenway I was actually under Fenway, doing some candle-pin bowling with my roommates. My time there was memorable albeit all too short, however I did manage to squeeze in about a dozen Bruins games during my stint in Beantown.

When I was younger the Bruins were actually my favourite team. The giant “B” on the front of their jerseys was of course the main reason for me, little Becky. Being able to go to (affordable) games in the Fleet Centre as an adult was a thrill, especially for someone that missed her hometown hockey so much that she would listen to streaming audio of John Shorthouse and Tom Larscheid online from her Cambridge apartment.

I grew up with hockey like any good Canadian kid. I didn’t play for a recreational team or anything but we’d go out to Fry’s Corner in Surrey with our Dad and shoot some pucks around. Also whenever the road in front of our house iced over we’d play a game with all the kids in the neighbourhood. My brother and sister usually had sticks and I was assigned the broken broom from the garage so I usually played goalie.

Just last weekend we drove past Sepentine Fen in South Surrey and saw at least 100 people out on the marsh skating around or playing a pick up game of hockey. The game was born outside.

I’m looking forward to the Winter Classic this year as you really can’t beat outdoor hockey on a snowy January afternoon. I’ll be wearing my Bruins jersey all day, cheering for our local Vancouver boy Milan Lucic and trying to find a television in my in-laws house that won’t be showing a football game. I can’t wait.