The First Fenway Park NHL Winter Classic
Boston Bruins vs Philadelphia Flyers

ON THIS DATE (January 1, 2010) ...  In the third Winter Classic, 38,112 stoic souls filled the house of Papelbon and Pedroia and stood in the cold for three hours before they were rewarded with a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on a table hockey, tip-in goal by Marco Sturm in the second minute of extra innings.

It was 39 degrees at game time (some Sox games have been colder) and many sight lines were terrible, but few complained. The postcard-perfect afternoon lacked the Currier & Ives snowfall that marked yesterday's photogenic practice session (million-dollar athletes clearing the ice with shovels!), but everything else worked out the way it was sketched on the NHL blueprint.

Orr skated to center ice for a ceremonial pregame handshake with Flyer nemesis Bobby Clarke, then stuck around for both national anthems.  Then it was Game On. It was a magical day in Boston sports. It was the day Fenway put on its snow pants and we all came home to hockey.