Bruins to face Flyers in third Winter Classic

By Jason Szep

BOSTON (Reuters) - The National Hockey League is hoping its third Winter Classic outdoor game, scheduled to be played at Boston's 97-year-old Fenway baseball park on New Year's Day, can lift the sport's profile at a critical time.

The Boston Bruins will host the Philadelphia Flyers, the NHL announced on Wednesday, in the event which returns the sport to its outdoor roots, draws strong ticket sales and attracts large national television audiences.

In January at Wrigley Field, a game between the host Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings sparked unprecedented ticket demand -- all of the nearly 41,000 tickets were sold out in less than an hour.

Fenway could be a powerful draw. The park is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium still in use and the city's NHL team, the Boston Bruins, are the oldest U.S. franchise.

In warmer months, Fenway is home to the Red Sox baseball team, currently in first place in the American League East division halfway through the regular season.

"This is going to be fun," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told a news conference. "We are delighted to bring this event to a city with so much history, with so much sports history."

The Bruins finished first in the Eastern Conference last season for the first time in seven years and have not won a Stanley Cup since 1972.

That record makes them the odd man out in Boston, home to the 2007 World Series-winning Red Sox baseball team, 2008 NBA championship-winning Celtics and the New England Patriots, one of America's greatest football dynasties.

Sports leagues and teams have been hit by the recession as fans cut spending on games and concessions, and companies reduce outlays on pricey suites and sponsorships.

While the NHL had a strong season in both attendance and revenue, several individual clubs have struggled, with the team in Phoenix filing for bankruptcy in May.

Despite freezing temperatures and blizzard conditions, the first Winter Classic, between the Buffalo Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008 at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard, Park, New York, drew 71,217 fans and unprecedented media coverage for a regular season NHL game.

That marked the first outdoor NHL game ever played in the United States.

The third Winter Classic will be broadcast on General Electric Co's NBC in the United States.

(Additional reporting by Ben Klayman in Chicago, Editing by Nigel Hunt)