The NHL had announced a "major announcement" would be announced at a press conference yesterday at Fenway Park. What would it be? That the Pengins won the Stanley Cup? That Ovechkin had been named the MVP? That Charlton Heston saw the Statue of Liberty at the end and realized he'd been on the Earth of the future all along?

No, it was slightly less shocking than all that. They confirmed what everyone already knew: that the Bruins would be hosting Philly on Lansdowne Street on New Year's Day. If you get an extra ticket, remember who told you first. Or sixteenth. They did settle one question, though, bringing in a rink-sized set of walls to show what the configuration would look like. While it's there, the rink will be open for the public to skate on for a couple of days, too. Now we just need the weather to cooperate.

While they were at it, the NHL also released the rest of the 09-10 schedule. The Bruins don't start on the West Coast, which is refreshing. They open with a pair of good home games, against the aforementioned Ovechkin and the Caps, followed by a rematch with the Hurricanes, who knocked the B's out this spring. Montreal comes in for the first time on 11/5, followed five days later by the World Champion Penguins. They're out west to visit San Jose on January 14th, where the two teams can commiserate about great regular seasons spoiled by abrupt playoff exits.

If Jason Bay is trying to shed his image as a joyless Canadian, he's off to a good start. First of all, of course, he's a US citizen, and he shows there's a good sense of humor behind his implacable facade as he writes up some All-Star observations for WEEI. The offer to sing "O Canada" is particularly good (and really embarassing for St. Louis).

Half of the major leagues get back to work today, but not the Sox, who are taking an extra day off before their series in Toronto. Because we like doing things like this, we'll note that if the season ended at the break, the Sox would be playing Detroit in the first round, while the other Divisional Series matchups would be Angels/Yankees (yes please), LA/St Louis, and Phillies/Giants(!).

Filed in Sports and tagged Bruins, Fenway Park, Jason Bay, sports redux, sportsredux, Winter Classic

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