Winter Classic Cynicism and Rules

After talking about the magic of the Winter Classic last night, I ranted a little bit this morning on Twitter and want to follow up here so I can use more words.

Since I talked about the magic of the Winter Classic last night, here’s some cynicism… I don’t think they broke the world record (1/4)
— DetroitHockey.Net (@detroithockey96) January 2, 2014

and the league wants it. Now that it’s established as a neutral-site event, I wouldn’t be surprised if they come back to (2/4)
— DetroitHockey.Net (@detroithockey96) January 2, 2014

Michigan Stadium with two different teams and lower ticket prices sometime in the future. CHI/PIT again? Teams close enough to (3/4)
— DetroitHockey.Net (@detroithockey96) January 2, 2014

travel to Ann Arbor. (4/4)
— DetroitHockey.Net (@detroithockey96) January 2, 2014

Now I have no idea how feasible that really is. There’s no way they’d come right back to Ann Arbor (Washington hosts next year), there’s already an issue with too many outdoor games, and who knows how much U of M would charge them a second time around, especially if the Red Wings weren’t involved.

In another angle of Winter Classic cynicism… I’ve said before that changing sides in the third period of the outdoor games is done all wrong. I wish I could find where I’d said it because it just looks like sour grapes to bring it up today.

The league already has rules about when certain stoppages are supposed to happen. The first stoppage after six minutes into the period gets a TV timeout, for example (unless it’s after an icing). That’s a free timeout for both teams and certainly it might benefit one team more than another but they don’t try to make it “fair” by timing it for when both teams are equally tired.

There’s no reason to blow play dead just to make things “fair” to switch ends. Do it at the next stoppage. In the third period, that’s already a commercial break.

Or I suppose we could start blowing play dead for TV timeouts, too. Why not? Everyone would know it’s coming so it would make just as much sense as doing it to switch ends.