Training Camp opened today in Voorhees, and with the 2011-12 season rapidly approaching, there’s still one huge question looming: What’s the deal with that damned Winter Classic?
We know it’s happening. From the charity auction leak to HBO 24/7 already setting up shop in New York Rangers camp to Winter Classic ticket information being confirmed to Flyers season ticket holders, it’s been the worst kept secret in hockey for months now.
But when’s that official announcement coming? It’s important for plenty of reasons, most notably that we’ll finally learn exactly what the deal is on tickets.
Thanks to a tip from a reader, who wishes to remain anonymous, it looks as though we can confirm the teams and league will announce the game on September 26, prior to the Flyers vs. Rangers preseason game in Philadelphia.
A lengthy PDF file with all kinds of information about what sort of apparel will be available for this year’s Winter Classic was leaked to us, and all of the mock-ups use the 2011 Pittsburgh Winter Classic logo on them, as you can see in the images below. But the notable part for us is also plastered all over every page:
“OFFICIAL LOGO NOT AVAILABLE UNTIL 9-26-11”
These docs come from a company called G-III Sports, which doesn’t handle all of the league’s apparel, but does handle things like jackets and bathing suits and Alyssa Milano’s Touch band of ladies sports apparel. As you can see, the Touch logo is also adorned on a few of these pages.
All of this seems to go along with the rumor that was reported by Rangers beat writer Steve Zipay earlier this month (but not really picked up by most of us, it seems) that the game will be announced prior to that September 26 game.
We’d have to say it’s a pretty safe bet at this point that we’ll have an official Winter Classic announcement in a little over a week.
