Bruins president Cam Neely weighs in on whether players are over outdoor games
The NHL will hold its seventh annual Winter Classic when the Boston Bruins take on the Montreal Canadiens at Gillette Stadium on New Year's Day of 2016. But as the event ages, a debate is beginning to gain steam over whether the NHL is creating too many outdoor games and thereby forcing players to play in unsavory atmospheres due to weather, board size and ice conditions.
Former NHL player Tony Amonte recently told the hosts of the Felger & Mazz radio show that players are sick of playing in outdoor games such as the Winter Classic, Stadium Series and Heritage Classic. But Bruins president Cam Neely refuted that claim in his weekly appearance on Felger & Mazz Thursday.
"I haven't heard that," Neely said in the radio interview. "I haven't heard anything from our players. There may be some guys -- I can't say for certain -- that have played in a number of them that maybe have had enough of it, but from everything I'm hearing around here, guys are excited about it, especially playing at Gillette. It's a different venue than we played in last time, and some guys haven't played a Winter Classic game yet."
The Bruins last played in the Winter Classic when the event was held at Fenway Park back in 2010. There are only four players on the current Bruins roster -- Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Tuukka Rask and David Krejci -- who were on the roster for the 2010 Winter Classic.
(h/t 98.5 The Sports Hub)
