Bruins Ringing in New Year With Flyers at Fenway

By SCOTT ROSS

Updated 10:15 AM EST, Wed, Jun 24, 2009

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"Fenway Rink" doesn't quite have the same ring.

Getty

Rumor has it that the Broad Street Bullies are heading to Fenway Park to face the Black and Gold in the NHL's 2010 Winter Classic.

After a tussle between the league, who wanted to showcase Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, and NBC, who was scared of the Caps' miserable first-round ratings against the Rangers this year, the Philadelphia Flyers have been chosen to face Boston in the annual event, reported The Daily Times.

While the Bruins have been slated to host the event for some months, the identity of their opponent had been mired in back channel wrangling.

NBC preferred Philly over Washington, but the Flyers wanted to spend New Year's with the newly crown champs, the Pittsburgh Penguins. After the league promised them a New Year's date in the near future in the Steel City, Philadelphia relented. An official announcement is expected from the league next month.

And if you're going to go to the trouble to change a baseball stadium into a hockey rink, you may as well schedule more than one game. So Boston College is on board to host a game at Fenway and Boston University is in talks to do the same, reported the Boston Metro.

This will be the first NHL game played at Fen's in the ballpark's storied history, though it did play host to the New England Patriots from 1963 to 1968.