BOSTON — The Green Monster, white snowflakes and red cheeks.
Fenway Park was all decked out for the Winter Classic, the NHL’s New Year’s Day skate down memory lane, a journey back to those iced-over ponds where many of today’s stars played for hours and hours when they were kids.
“I grew up in Ottawa. That’s all I did, until I got my report card,” Boston’s Marc Savard said. “Then I had to shut it down for a week or so and get back to doing homework.”
On Thursday, Savard was concerned about keeping the puck from sliding off his stick as he carried it through nearly an inch of snow that had collected. The rink for this afternoon’s game between the Bruins and Flyers was set up across the infield and just into the outfield from foul line to foul line in the stadium that opened in 1912. The center faceoff dot was at second base.
The scoreboard on the 37-foot high Green Monster in left field, where the AL East standings are listed during the Red Sox season, had the Northeast Division standings.
The flakes started falling, as if on cue, minutes before the Bruins began their late-morning practice.
“It was just great timing,” Boston captain Zdeno Chara said. “It was very cool.”
Today’s forecast calls for snow showers early, temperatures just above the freezing point and a possibility of rain that most concerns players. The makeup day in case of a postponement is Saturday.
“Everybody was pretty worried about rain being a factor. I think we can all handle snow. We grew up with it,” Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger said.
Enough snow piled up Thursday for Bruins coach Claude Julien to wield a shovel as he skated repeatedly from one end of the ice to the other to clear a wide lane for shooting practice.
“It was a way of getting in shape, I guess,” he joked.
