With all the talk here recently about the World Junior Hockey Championships, you might have been wondering about the big event on the NHL schedule – the Winter Classic that will be played on New Year’s Day between the Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers.

Check out the link, there is tons of material on the game and festivities surrounding it.  Some of them are surprising, and some of them are not.  For instance, there is the annual story on Dan Craig and his ice-making prowess.  There is also the story about an NHLers recollection of playing on outdoor ice – in this case, Gordie Howe.

Of course, the other big news about the Winter Classic is that Brian Burke and the rest of the Team USA brass will be announcing the American Olympic team during one of the intermissions.  How cool would it be for a guy like Tim Thomas to be playing in the game, and get the call to represent his country at the same time?

Upper Deck hasn’t missed the opportunity to portray the event on cardboard, either.  If you pick up a blaster box of MVP Hockey, there are Winter Classic cards featuring players from both teams in the packs.  In a 12 pack blaster, I ended up with 3 Winter Classic inserts, so let’s assume they will be falling about 1:4 packs.  Its a 20 card set, featuring 10 players from each team. The red and green borders on the bottom of these cards give them a really nice ‘holiday’ feel.

And for Flyers and Bruins fans, the late season sets and next year’s cards should feature some awesome photography from the event, especially in base Upper Deck Series 1 and 2.  These cards are very distinctive, both because of the sweaters the players are wearing, and also the extra gear the players are wearing to deal with the chillier temperatures.

Who out there is planning to catch the event?  It counts if you are tuning in to see the American Olympic roster announcement as well.