The 2016 NHL Winter Classic by Bridgestone is set to be played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA on New Year's Day, where, according to weather forecasts, it is likely to be a balmy 41 degrees with the sun shining. And while that forecast probably sounds good to fans lucky enough to have tickets to the event, it may not prove all that promising for the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens.
"The one end was very slushy. The one corner was very dangerous, [when you were] kind of turning," Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg said Thursday, per Yahoo Sports' Puck Daddy. "But what are you going to do? You have to deal with it."
True, Dennis, but you aren't the only one concerned.
"For the most part, during practice, we stayed away from that corner of the ice, for safety reasons," B's captain Zdeno Chara added.
Stadium personnel had actually covered the ice in thermal blankets prior to the Bruins' morning skate on Thursday, but it seemed to provide little in the way of relief for ice that players deemed "dangerous," "soft" and "slushy," per Yahoo.
And the conditions only worsened as the practice wore on. With temperatures on Friday expected to remain consistent, the sun expected to be prominently featured during the early portion of the day and the ice surface having played host to the first women's professional outdoor game between the NWHL's Boston Pride and the CWHL's Les Canadiennes, it could make for quite the spectacle on New Year's Day.
Or, as Seidenberg put it, an "adventure."
Still, players for both teams expressed confidence that the ice would be ready to go for Friday's festivities. They also said that, even if it isn't, they'll still be ready to play.
