It will be the second time in the last 3 years that the Flyers will be involved in the league's most highly anticipated regular-season game, though it has only been in existence since 2008. The Flyers fell to the Bruins in overtime on Jan. 1, 2010, at Boston's venerable Fenway Park.
What remains up in the air is the date of the game. The Eagles are tentatively scheduled to take on the Washington Redskins on Jan. 1, 2012, at Lincoln Financial Field if the NFL's lockout is lifted. The NHL - and its television partner, NBC - has no interest in going head-to-head with the football ratings beast.
Dec. 31, 2011, and Jan. 2, 2012, are the remaining options for the game, which has been played on New Year's Day each of the first 4 years of the event - it has never fallen on a football Sunday before. Jan. 2, 2012, would be the observed holiday for New Year's since it falls on a Sunday next year. That would also be the better daytime television option.
However, the NHL experimented with a prime-time option this past year in Pittsburgh between the Penguins and Washington Capitals because weather prevented an outdoor afternoon contest. Could you imagine NBC shifting from a 5 p.m. Flyers-Rangers game straight to Times Square for its coverage of the ball drop on New Year's Eve? That's not a hard sell.
The NHL has said it will require both participating teams to open their locker rooms to HBO for the next series of its Emmy Award-winning documentary "24/7: Road to the Winter Classic."
That would be OK with Flyers coach Peter Laviolette.
