A record crowd of 73,000 turned out this afternoon in Orchard Park, NY to see the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins do battle in the National Hockey League's Winter Classic game, which the Penguins won 2-1 in a shoot-out goal by Sidney Crosby.
Temperatures of minus-1 Celsius and a north wind which made it feel even colder couldn't dampen the crowd's enthusiasm over the 1:20 p.m. EST face-off; they roared when TV coverage began at 1 p.m. This is only the second outdoor game in NHL history; in November 2003, the Heritage Classic in Edmonton attracted a crowd of 54,000 in minus-19 temperatures.
Thousands of hockey fans tailgated in parking lots before what
TSN described as
the most hyped hockey event of the season.
The score was tied at 1-1 as the third period began and went to a five-minute overtime. As weather conditions deteriorated, TV coverage was intermittently interrupted, but fans' enthusiasm was undiminished. The five-minute overtime failed to produce a winner, so the game went to a shoot-out.
