The Hockey Stop

Ice hockey was birthed on outdoor frozen ponds in Nova Scotia, Canada, in the 19th century. Over 200 years later the game is played indoors in big city arenas underneath high definition video boards. But there is a movement to take hockey back to its roots outdoors -- away from the big business of professional hockey and the overly regimented and pressure-filled youth hockey leagues.

Today's is NBC's Hockey Day in America -- a day long celebration of the fastest sport in the world and how it has grown at the grassroots level here in the United States. And not just in the far north, but in nontraditional places such as the African-American community of Anacostia in Southeast Washington, D.C. The special is being broadcast from Chicago's Millennium Park ice skating rink and features a segment on the National Pond Hockey Tournament in Wisconsin.

And later this evening the 2011 NHL Heritage Classic will be broadcast live on Versus. The game pits the Calgary Flames against the Montreal Canadiens from McMahon Stadium on the campus of the University of Calgary. The event is basically Canada's version of the popular Winter Classic, which this year took place at a rainy Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

But it is too cold in Alberta for rain. This game is going to be hockey at its purest form. Under the big, cold Canadian sky, these two franchises will go back to their childhood days of playing on the frozen ponds and backyard rinks. Back to when there were no rules, no refs, no money, no pressure, no parents. Just neighborhood kids playing for fun and building memories that will last a lifetime.

Meanwhile, enjoy this excellent documentary courtesy of Snag Films on the history of pond hockey and how ingrained outdoor hockey is to the fabric of life in Minnesota.

Watch more free documentaries

Preparations began for the Winter Classic as soon as the Pittsburgh Steelers game ended last night at Heinz Field. Also last night, hockey fans were treated to a thrilling preview of the highly anticipated New Year's day matchup between the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins when the two rivals battled in D.C. to a 2-2 overtime draw and seven rounds of the shootout before the Pens' Pascal Dupuis beat Caps goaltender Michal Neuvirth to win the game for the Pens. The Caps will be looking for revenge on January 1st at 1 p.m. in what will hopefully be an epic game on NBC.

Here is the live video of Heinz Field being transformed from a football stadium to a hockey stadium:

Today, the NHL unveiled an artist rendering of what Heinz Field will supposedly look like at 1 p.m. on New Years Day, when the Washington Capitals face off against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the annual Winter Classic.

Now, I expect there to be a lot of Caps fans in red Ovechkin jerseys at the game. Many fans will surely make the short trip from Washington to Pittsburgh to take part in the festivities.

But from the looks of this drawing, Caps red is drowning out the Pens' black and gold. In fact, it almost looks like an outdoor version of the Caps' home arena -- the Verizon Center. I'm sure this was unintentional, but nonetheless, for those who notice, it is another small match fueling the big fire raging in the buildup to what promises to be one of the most viewed games and hopefully one of the most exciting games in the history of hockey.

Anyway, take a look and judge for yourself. Is that a lot of red in the stands?

The Washington Capitals unveiled their Winter Classic uniforms on Saturday at their fan convention, which was held for the first time in downtown D.C. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center just a few blocks from the Verizon Center.

The Caps will be sporting their red, white and blue throwback jerseys worn from 1974-1975 to 1994-1995. The players will be wearing the road white jerseys with red pants and red helmets. Former Capitals Yvon Labre and Rod Langway joined current Cap Alex Ovechkin (pictured above signing autographs with Caps forward Mathieu Perreault) on the stage to model the uniforms, which will go on sale in November.

The Winter Classic on January 1st against the Penguins at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh and the HBO "24/7" reality series leading up to the big game were hot topics at the panel discussions throughout the day.

"When you have a big event like this you want to get the best matchup to drive the most attention and really create as much expectation as you possibly can," said NHL COO John Collins. "This was the matchup that everybody wanted. People had talked about why haven't the Capitals been in it before. So we're just happy we were able to pull it off. We're happy that the Capitals organization agreed to do it. And I think the fact that HBO "24/7" now is going to follow the Caps and Pens all the way into the Winter Classic I think is great for the sport and obviously great for the organization."

Caps General Manager George McPhee weighed in on the HBO series: "I think it's a great opportunity to expose this team and this game to not only hockey people but non-hockey people. Some people are going to watch it that have never seen hockey and go 'that is pretty cool.'"

More pictures from the Caps Convention:

























Caps owner Ted Leonsis signs autographs

Caps General Manager George McPhee answers questions

Left to right: Caps PA Announcer Wes Johnson, Caps forward Mike Knuble, NHL COO John Collins and Caps Head Equipment Manager Brock Myles discuss the upcoming Caps-Pens Winter Classic game in Pittsburgh.

The Washington Capitals unveiled their Winter Classic uniforms on Saturday at their fan convention, which was held for the first time in downtown D.C. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center just a few blocks from the Verizon Center.

The Caps will be sporting their red, white and blue throwback jerseys worn from 1974-1975 to 1994-1995. The players will be wearing the road white jerseys with red pants and red helmets. Former Capitals Yvon Labre and Rod Langway joined current Cap Alex Ovechkin (pictured above signing autographs with Caps forward Mathieu Perreault) on the stage to model the uniforms, which will go on sale in November.

The Winter Classic on January 1st against the Penguins at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh and the HBO "24/7" reality series leading up to the big game were hot topics at the panel discussions throughout the day.

"When you have a big event like this you want to get the best matchup to drive the most attention and really create as much expectation as you possibly can," said NHL COO John Collins. "This was the matchup that everybody wanted. People had talked about why haven't the Capitals been in it before. So we're just happy we were able to pull it off. We're happy that the Capitals organization agreed to do it. And I think the fact that HBO "24/7" now is going to follow the Caps and Pens all the way into the Winter Classic I think is great for the sport and obviously great for the organization."

Caps General Manager George McPhee weighed in on the HBO series: "I think it's a great opportunity to expose this team and this game to not only hockey people but non-hockey people. Some people are going to watch it that have never seen hockey and go 'that is pretty cool.'"

More pictures from the Caps Convention:

























Caps owner Ted Leonsis signs autographs

Caps General Manager George McPhee answers questions

Left to right: Caps PA Announcer Wes Johnson, Caps forward Mike Knuble, NHL COO John Collins and Caps Head Equipment Manager Brock Myles discuss the upcoming Caps-Pens Winter Classic game in Pittsburgh.

The Washington Capitals will visit the Pittsburgh Penguins at Heinz Field on New Year's Day for the 2011 NHL Winter Classic.

This is going to be a great game between two fierce rivals. And of course there is Alex Ovechkin vs. Sidney Crosby for the league to hype to the maximum.

Also, commissioner Gary Bettman indicated that Washington will host a Winter Classic in the next two to three years. The Capitals Insider blog asks fans where they would want the game played.

Out of 1,072 votes so far 39 percent, including myself, voted for the National Mall followed by Nationals Park with 33 percent, RFK Stadium with 14 percent, FedEx Field with 11 percent and 1 percent for somewhere else.

The National Mall would be spectacular. Can you imagine a hockey game with the majestic backdrop of the Capitol Building on one side and the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the other side? It would be breathtaking. The National Mall recently handled more than a million people for the Obama inauguration so I'm sure it could handle 50,000 for a hockey game.

As the National Hockey League skates into the second decade of the new millenium, a recap of the Oughts is in order -- both the highlights and lowlights.

Overall the NHL is on a positive track as profits are up, the game has never been more exciting to watch and technological innovations are changing the way fans view and interact with their favorite teams. But there are also some financially failing franchises, injuries are on the rise and professional hockey is still a distant fourth behind the NFL, NBA and MLB in Americans' sporting passions.

Just some of the many trends and moments worth examining.

WHAT RECESSION? Despite the global financial crisis, the NHL had its most profitable year in 2008-2009 and team values rose $3 million with revivals in Chicago, Washington and Pittsburgh leading the charge and new deals with companies such as Honda and Cisco providing a boost.

LOCKOUT LOW POINT Remember the 2004-2005 lockout? I know, it has faded from memory as fast as a Joe Thornton slap shot. But this was no doubt the lowest point for the league in the past decade. The NHL earned the dubious distinction of becoming the first North American professional sports league to cancel an entire season. It is nothing short of a miracle the NHL was able to survive and now thrive after the devastating "lost season."

NEW RULES: THE GOOD In an effort to woo back disaffected fans following the lockout, the NHL instituted new rules to make the game more exciting to watch. Perhaps the most significant change was cracking down on the neutral zone trap defense, which was made famous by the New Jersey Devils. While the Devils had much success with this style of play, they were widely criticized for making the game boring. New rules that opened up the neutral zone took effect such as doubling the width of the blue and red lines, lifting the prohibition on two-line passes and vigorously enforcing obstruction penalties such as hooking and holding.

Another significant rule change was instituting the shootout if an overtime regular season game ends in a tie. While some argue that the shootout is a cheap gimmick, I would argue that it has made the game more exciting by showcasing the skills of shooters and goalies and preventing teams from settling for a tie because there is always two points on the line.

NEW RULES: THE BAD Automatic "no-touch" icing was initially going to be part of the new rules but it wasn't adopted. Bad decision. Injuries due to players racing for the puck is a major concern that could be alleviated by automatic icing. Also, that funny-looking trapezoid zone area behind the net should be eliminated. Restricting the area where a goalie can play the puck is unfair and unnecessary.

THE RISE OF THE EUROS The influx of European talent has enhanced the NHL's international appeal and made the game more fun to watch. The Detroit Red Wings and Washington Capitals are prime examples. In 2008 Nicklas Lidstrom became the first European captain to win a Stanley Cup when Detroit downed Pittsburgh. The Caps are bursting with European talent such as Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, Nicklas Backstrom, Tomas Fleischmann and Simeon Varlamov just to name a few. Plus, the NHL has moved some of their regular-season openers to Europe. This season games were played in the Czech Republic and Sweden. Expect many more games played overseas in the next decade.

WINTER CLASSIC The now annual New Year's Day outdoor game has been a great success by turning historic venues such as Wrigley Field and this year Fenway Park into ice hockey rinks and airing the game to a national TV audience on NBC. The inaugural game in 2008 at Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium broke the NHL attendance record (71,217) and the Wings-Hawks game at Wrigley last January had the highest TV ratings of any hockey game in 33 years.

VANCOUVER OLYMPICS The upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver is going to be an amazing showcase for the NHL's best players representing their countries. The fact that it is in North America is a huge bonus because the games will be shown in prime time. Could Team Canada and Sidney Crosby play Team Russia and Alex Ovechkin for the gold medal?

THE COYOTES CONUNDRUM The fate of the Phoenix Coyotes was one of the biggest question marks heading toward the end of the decade and was a black eye for the league. The saga in Arizona started when the Coyotes filed for bankruptcy on May 5. Since then, there have been a circus of potential owners -- some wanting to keep the team in Phoenix and others wanting to move the team to Hamilton, Ontario. On Dec. 18, Ice Edge Holdings purchased the team and are expected to keep the franchise in Phoenix.

AN UP AND DOWN DECADE ON TV The decade started on ABC and ESPN and is ending on NBC and Versus. While many fans including myself have been critical of the NHL's contract with Versus, there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel because of the NBC Universal-Comcast deal.

The reason I believed the NHL should have stayed on ESPN, despite its anti-hockey bias, had to do with leveraging matchups such as Pens-Caps from last year's playoffs in order to reach the maximum audience. Versus (formerly the Outdoor Life Network) has always been a niche channel with limited reach. Thus, one of the greatest playoff series in recent memory was not hyped as it should have been.

But Comcast owns Versus and the hope is that there will be more cross-coverage and promotion with NBC and that Versus and its hockey coverage will benefit from the power of NBC. So while the past decade has been mixed on television, the future certainly looks bright. Also, the NHL Network, NHL GameCenter Live on NHL.com and the NHL Center Ice package have given more options to watch out-of-market games.

NHL BECOMING MORE DIVERSE Despite the stereotype of NHL players being as white as the ice they play on, the NHL has quietly become more colorful as the decade has progressed. There are currently 26 blacks, nine Asians, six Hispanics and eight Jews playing in the National Hockey League.