September 30, 1973: The Last Game at the Pre-Renovation Yankee Stadium

September 30, 1973: The last game is played at Yankee Stadium before its renovation. The Yankees lose 8-5 to the Detroit Tigers.

The renovation was necessary, not because the Mets were talking about how much better Shea Stadium was, but because there were actual structural issues. The institution of Bat Day led to kids sitting in the upper deck, banging their bats on the floor, weakening the stadium structure.

So Mayor John Lindsay negotiated a deal in which the Department of Parks of the City of New York, which already owned Shea, bought both Yankee Stadium and the land on which it sat -- previously owned by separate entities -- and would renovate it, to reopen in time for the 1976 season. The Yankees would play the 1974 and '75 seasons at Shea.

This also forced the football Giants out of Yankee Stadium after 2 games, a 34-14 win over the Houston Oilers on September 16, and a 23-23 tie with the Philadelphia Eagles on September 23. The rest of their home schedule for 1973, and all of it for 1974, would be played 70 miles to the northeast, at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut.

Lindsay, angry that the Giants had already negotiated a deal to build a stadium in the Meadowlands of New Jersey, in time for the 1976 season, denied them the use of Shea, so they had to look elsewhere. So they made the deal to play '73 and '74 at the Yale Bowl. Lindsay's successor, Abe Beame, had no such grudge, and allowed the Giants to play the 1975 season at Shea -- meaning that it was hosting both of New York's MLB teams and both of its NFL teams at the same time.

(In other words: In 1975, the New York Tri-State Area had 8 teams playing in 3 buildings: Shea Stadium had the Yankees, the Mets, the Giants and the Jets; Madison Square Garden had the Knicks and the Rangers; and the Nassau Coliseum had the Nets and the Islanders. In 2022, with the Devils making it 9 teams, they are playing in 7 separate buildings.)

In order to avoid the kind of damage that fans had done to other ballparks in their recent closures, the Monuments were removed from center field, and the Plaques from the wall, before the game.

Duane "Duke" Sims, catching in the last game at the pre-renovation Stadium instead of Thurman Munson, hits the last home run, off Fred Holdsworth in the 7th inning. But Lindy McDaniel, in relief of Fritz Peterson, implodes in the 8th inning, allowing 6 runs, making a winning pitcher of John Hiller.

Sims' 1974 Topps card. Topps tended to take

players' card pictures in New York,

going back to the Polo Grounds.

The last play is 1st baseman Mike Hegan hitting a fly ball to, appropriately, center field, once patrolled by Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. This one is caught by the Tigers' Mickey Stanley.

Attendance: 32,238, in a Stadium whose capacity was then listed as 65,010.

For all the greats who had played in Yankee Stadium, the only future Hall-of-Famer who played in this game was the Tigers' Al Kaline.

After the game, Yankee manager Ralph Houk resigned, tired of the meddling of the team's 1st-year owner, George Steinbrenner. George found finding a replacement difficult, as he tried to hire Dick Williams, who, after the subsequent World Series despite winning it, had quit as manager of the Oakland Athletics. A's owner Charlie Finley contended that Williams couldn't manage anywhere else as long as his contract with him was running. So George hired former Pittsburgh Pirate manager Bill Virdon. Houk was signed to manage the Tigers.

The day after the last game, the renovation began. Claire Ruth, the Babe's widow, was given home plate. Eleanor Gehrig, Lou's widow, was given the 1st base that was used in the last game.

The 1923-73 version of Yankee Stadium saw the home team win 27 American League Pennants and 20 World Series in 51 seasons. (The 1st 2 Yankee Pennants, 1921 and '22, came at the Polo Grounds.) It also hosted 3 NFL Championship Games in the pre-Super Bowl era: 1956, when the Giants beat the Chicago Bears; 1958, when the Giants lost to the Baltimore Colts in an overtime classic that has been called "The Greatest Game Ever Played"; and 1962, when the Giants lost to the Green Bay Packers.

It also hosted the Army-Navy Game in 1930 and '31; and 22 Army-Notre Dame games, including 1928, when Knute Rockne told his team to "Win one for the Gipper," and they did; and 1946, when both teams came in undefeated, and left that way, a "Game of the Century" that didn't live up to the hype, ending 0-0. And it hosted a long run of boxing champions, from Jack Dempsey to Floyd Patterson, including Joe Louis' 1938 knockout of Max Schmeling.

Remaining with the team until 1980, shortstop Fred Stanley was the last Yankee who had played a home game at the pre-renovation Stadium, although center fielder Bobby Murcer would be traded away and reacquired, playing his last game on June 11, 1983, nearly 10 years later.

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September 30, 1973 was a Sunday. Other Major League Baseball games played on this day:

* The New York Mets split a doubleheader with the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Cubs won the opener 1-0, with Rick Reuschel and Bob Locker combining for an 8-hit shutout. In the nightcap, Jerry Koosman was backed by 3 hits from Rusty Staub, 2 each by Wayne Garrett and Felix Millan, and a home run by Cleon Jones, as the Mets won 9-2.

The regular season should have been over, but the National League Eastern Division race was a wild one that no one seemed to want to win. The Mets ended the day 1 game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals, a game and a half ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3 ahead of the Montreal Expos, and 4 ahead of the Cubs -- who finished closer to the Mets this time than they had in their in famous 1969 "September Swoon."

But because of rainouts, the race still wasn't decided. The Cards had completed their schedule, but the Mets had 2 games left to play, the Pirates 1. It was still possible for any of the 3 to win the Division.

* Because the Cardinals had beaten the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* And the Pirates had beaten the Expos, 10-2 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The next day, the Pirates would play a rainout makeup against the San Diego Padres at home, while the Mets would stay at Wrigley and play another doubleheader with the Cubs.

The Mets won the opener, 6-4, and clinched the Division. Until the 1986 Pennant, this would remain their only clincher on the road. (The 1969 and 1986 Division titles, the 1969 and 1973 Pennants, and the 1969 World Series win would all occur at Shea.) They beat the Cubs, and barely beat the rain, which canceled the nightcap, which was now unnecessary. It was made more so when the Pirates lost 4-3 to the Padres.

* Elsewhere on September 30, the Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-3 at Atlanta Stadium. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1975.) This was the 3,739th and last regular-season game managed by Leo Durocher, who was soon fired. He first managed with the 1939 Brooklyn Dodgers, while he was still an active player.

Hank Aaron got 3 hits, but none of them was a home run, so he finished the season with 713 career home runs. It would be a long off-season before he got the chance to break the career record then held by Babe Ruth. He hit Number 714 on April 4, 1974 in Cincinnati, and then Number 715 on April 8 at home to Los Angeles.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The California Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium). Frank Tanana pitched a 2-hit shutout, outdueling Bert Blyleven.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-0 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Pete Broberg allowed 7 hits, but kept the shutout.

* And the Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 1-0 at the Oakland Coliseum. The ChiSox won it in the top of the 10th, on a bases-loaded walk drawn by shortstop Russell "Bucky" Dent, who would later write his name in Yankee history. Speaking of which: Reggie Jackson did not play for the A's, but Catfish Hunter started, and did not get the decision. The A's would go on to beat the Mets in the World Series.

And there were NFL games played on the day:

* The New York Giants lost to the Cleveland Browns, 13-10 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The New York Jets lost to the Buffalo Bills, 9-7. It was the Bills' 1st game at their new stadium, south of the city, in suburban Orchard Park, New York. Originally known as Rich Stadium, for the Rich family of meat-product producers, O.J. Simpson and his teammates beat the Jets, 9-7.

The stadium was renamed Ralph Wilson Stadium for the team's founding owner in 1998, and, in 2015, was renamed New Era Field, as naming rights were bought by the New Era sports cap company. But New Era asked to be let out of the agreement in 2020. It was renamed Highmark Stadium. In 2026, it was torn down, and replaced by a new facility, also named Highmark Stadium.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 28-7 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Colts beat the New Orleans Saints, 13-10 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the New England Patriots, 44-23 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Houston Oilers, 36-7 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 45-10 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Green Bay Packers, 11-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Oakland Raiders, 16-3 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Denver Broncos, 33-14 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the San Diego Chargers, 20-13 at San Diego Stadium.

* The Los Angeles Rams beat the San Francisco 49ers, 40-20 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The next day, on Monday Night Football, the Detroit Lions beat the Atlanta Falcons, 31-6 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. 

January 3, 1993: The Buffalo Comeback

January 3, 1993: The Houston Oilers led the 2-time defending AFC Champion Buffalo Bills, 35-3, with 13:19 left in the 3rd quarter, at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York. To make matters worse, the Bills' Hall of Fame quarterback, Jim Kelly, had been injured earlier in the game, and the Bills were relying on backup QB Frank Reich.

In other words, with a backup at the helm, the Bills had to be a net +32 points over the last 28 minutes of the game, just to tie.

Final score: Bills 41, Oilers 38, in overtime.

It was the greatest comeback in NFL history, and it happened in the Playoffs. (UPDATE: It's still the biggest Playoff comeback ever, although a 2022 game saw the Minnesota Vikings erase a 33-point deficit to beat the Indianapolis Colts.)

Just 7 days before, at the Astrodome in Houston, the Oilers had beaten the Bills by a whopping 27-3. Which means that, in a little more than a game and a half in a week, they'd outscored the Bills 62-6. That's a high school blowout score.

But the Oilers went into that regular-season finale with a record of 9-6, and had to win just to get into the Playoffs. In contrast, the Bills went in 11-4, having already clinched not just a Playoff berth but a home game in the 1st round. The Bills didn't need to win that game, but the Oilers did. Faced with a Bills team that did have to win, the Oilers probably got overconfident. If you'd hung 62 points on a team in a span of 32 minutes of football, you'd be overconfident, too.

The Oilers were used to playing in the Astrodome, in total climate control. The joke was that the temperature was 72 degrees, with the wind blowing from the north, east, south and west at 1 mile per hour. In Orchard Park that day, it was 34 degrees, and the 14 MPH wind made the temperature 24 with the wind chill factor. And it started to snow. Put it all together, and you have Bills Weather. As Bills head coach Marv Levy told his team in such conditions, "When it's too tough for them, it's just right for us!"

Just as the Dallas Cowboys couldn't quite hold up under "Packer Weather" in "the Ice Bowl" in the 1967 NFL Championship Game, 25 years and 3 days earlier, that other Texas team couldn't hang onto a 4-touchdown lead on the windswept plain just off the shore of Lake Erie.

Unlike Scott Norwood, who, 2 years earlier in Super Bowl XXV, had to kick from 47 yards out on grass, but had great weather for it, Steve Christie's potential game-winner, while just 32 yards away and on turf, was in cold, snow and wind (which is the greatest enemy of any kicker), but went through the uprights.

Christie doesn't get nearly as much credit for winning this game as Norwood gets blame for losing Super Bowl XXV -- and while Christie's kick won only a Wild Card game, there were, as ESPN proved in their Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame... piece on Norwood, plenty of reasons why he has been unfairly vilified for sending that kick wide right. (They never did an episode on the Bills comeback/Oilers choke.)

Frank Reich stepped in for the injured Kelly, and led 5 touchdown drives in the 2nd half, going 21-for-34 for 289 yards. And, unlike Kelly, who stupidly threw 8 passes over the middle in the last minute of Super Bowl XXV, when he should have been throwing toward the sideline to stop the clock -- to hell with what the Giants' defense was doing, you do not throw over the middle when you need to save time -- in overtime he got the Bills to the Oilers' 15-yard-line, so Christie's field goal would be 32 yards, instead of the 47 yards that Kelly left Norwood to have to kick. Reich had the kind of game that comes just once in a lifetime.

Except it came twice in his lifetime. He had done this before: In 1984, he was quarterbacking the University of Maryland against the University of Miami at the Orange Bowl -- which was an even better home field for them than it was for the Miami Dolphins. (And, by a weird coincidence, UM was Kelly's alma mater, although he was in the USFL at that point.)

Bernie Kosar had led the Hurricanes to a 31-0 halftime lead, and their defense had knocked Stan Gelbaugh out of the game. To be fair, Gelbaugh was only in because Reich himself had been injured a few weeks earlier. But Reich came off the bench, and when it was over, the Terrapins had won, 42-40.

So until 2006, when Michigan State wiped out a 38-3 Northwestern lead to win 41-38, Reich had come off the bench to win the biggest comebacks in the history of both the NCAA and the NFL.

Moreover, the Bills were better than the Oilers. They were, after all, the 2-time defending AFC Champions. They were, after all, at home. As for the Oilers, they had already lost 4 of their last 5 Playoff games, and didn't win another one for another 7 years -- by which point they were the Tennessee Titans.

The Oilers had 3 Pro Football Hall-of-Famers: Quarterback Warren Moon, tackle Bruce Matthews and guard Mike Munchak. The Bills had 5: Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas, receivers James Lofton and Andre Reed, and defensive end Bruce Smith.

It is true that the Bills lost 4 straight Super Bowls, in the 1990 to 1993 seasons. It is also true that they got to 4 straight Super Bowls. Only one other team, the 1971-73 Dolphins, has even gotten to 3 straight.

The Bills had to do this in an AFC East that had Dan Marino's Dolphins, Drew Bledsoe's New England Patriots and a decent Jets side; and in the AFC Playoffs with Moon's Oilers, John Elway's Denver Broncos, Bernie Kosar's Cleveland Browns, Boomer Esiason's Cincinnati Bengals, Marcus Allen's Los Angeles Raiders, Joe Montana's Kansas City Chiefs, and a Pittsburgh Steeler team that had a defense nearly as nasty as their 1970s Steel Curtain. So they always had a tough schedule. Yet they got through it, 4 times in a row.

This loss didn't quite doom the Oilers to having to leave Houston -- you can blame their Astrodome lease and founder-owner Bud Adams' greed for that. Nor did it absolve the Bills for their 4 straight Super Bowl losses. But it did show that they were a team that deserved our respect.

The Oilers didn't blow it, they got beat. Big difference.

In 2019, a poll ranked this game 7th on a list of the 100 Greatest Games of the NFL's 1st 100 years.

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January 3, 1993 was a Sunday. One other NFL Playoff game was played that day: The Philadelphia Eagles beat the New Orleans Saints, 36-28 at the Superdome. The shock wasn't that the Eagles won a Playoff game on the road. It's that they did it with Rich Kotite as their head coach.

There were 4 games played in the NBA that day:

* The Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 120-112 at the Boston Garden. 

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 109-101 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Phoenix Suns, 114-113 in overtime at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Houston Rockets, 103-101 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum. In defeat, Hakeem Olajuwon had 40 points to lead all players on the night, and 10 blocks shots.

And there were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The Minnesota North Stars and the Hartford Whalers played to a tie, 6-6 at the Hartford Civic Center (now named the PeoplesBank Arena).

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the St. Louis Blues, 6-5 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Brad May scored the winning goal, 1:20 into overtime.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Winnipeg Jets, 4-1 at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the Philadelphia Flyers and the Winnipeg Jets played to a tie, 2-2 at the Winnipeg Arena. 

January 1, 2008: The 1st NHL Winter Classic

January 1, 2008: The National Hockey League holds its 1st Winter Classic. Aside from the Stanley Cup Finals, it becomes the League's signature event.

There had been outdoor hockey games before, both in the NHL and in college hockey. But it took until 2004 for someone -- NBC Sports Executive Vice President Jon Miller (not the San Francisco Giants broadcaster of the same name) -- to suggest to NHL management that they have a special event, beyond the League's annual All-Star Game.

The idea was rejected then, but revisited in 2006, and set up for every New Year's Day. It probably wouldn't have happened a few years earlier, when the major college football bowl games were all played on the day, including whichever ended up deciding the National Championship. But with the advent of the Bowl Championship Series, the National Championship was no longer decided on January 1, opening the day to a major event in another sport.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were chosen as one of the teams, because NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman wanted to showcase the NHL's "most popular" player, the Penguins' Sidney Crosby. The Penguins' arch-rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, weren't interested in hosting. But the team closest in distance to the Penguins, the Buffalo Sabres, were. And so the game was set for January 1, 2008, at Ralph Wilson Stadium in suburban Orchard Park, New York, home of the NHL's Buffalo Bills. (It's now named Highmark Stadium.)

A crowd of 71,217 fans came in. At the time, this was the largest crowd in NHL history, although about 3,000 short of the biggest in the history of hockey. The game was broadcast on NBC in America, and in Canada, on CBC in English and RDS in French.

The Penguins had worn black and yellow uniforms since 1979, to capitalize on the success that year of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers. From 1973 to 1979, they wore navy blue and yellow. For this game, they went back to their original 1967-73 powder blue uniforms. The Sabres also wore "throwback" uniforms, white jerseys with their original logo. Game-time temperature was 32 degrees, the freezing point of water, and snow fell during the game.

Like clockwork, like Bettman had planned it that way, the Penguins scored just 21 seconds into the game, with Crosby assisting Colby Armstrong. Just 1:25 into the 2nd period, Brian Campbell scored for the Sabres. The score remained 1-1 through the rest of regulation, and through the 5-minute overtime period.

So a shootout was necessary to decide it. Just the way Bettman wanted it. The Sabres shot first, and Ales Kotalik got the puck past Ty Conklin. Erik Christensen followed for the Pens, but missed.

That should have put the Sabres in command. But Tim Connolly was stopped by Conklin, and Kris Letang scored past the Sabres' Ryan Miller. Conklin saved the try of Maxim Afinogenov. And Crosby was next, and scored the winning goal. Just the way Bettman wanted it. Officially, the final score was Penguins 3, Sabres 2, even though each team scored 1 in regulation and at least 1 more in the shootout.

The game proved enormously popular. Since then, the game has always been played on January 1, with these exceptions: 2012 and 2017, when the date fell on a Sunday, and, to avoid competition with the NFL Playoffs, was pushed back to Monday, January 2; 2013, when a lockout of the NHL players by the team owners canceled the game; and 2021, when the game was canceled due to the COVID-19 epidemic. In the cases of 2013 and 2021, each team that was supposed to host the game did so the next season.

The Chicago Blackhawks have hosted the Classic in 2009 at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs; and 2019 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana, home of the University of Notre Dame football team. The Boston Bruins have hosted in 2010 at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox; and 2016 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, home of the New England Patriots.

The Penguins have hosted in 2011 at Heinz Field, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Philadelphia Flyers have hosted in 2012 at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies. The Detroit Red Wings have hosted in 2014 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan football team. The Washington Capitals have hosted in 2015 at Nationals Park, home of the Washington Nationals. The St. Louis Blues have hosted in 2017 at Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Dallas Stars have hosted in 2020 at the Cotton Bowl. And, tonight, the Minnesota Wild host at Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins.

The NHL has staged other outdoor games. So far, every Winter Classic has been in the United States, while outdoor games in Canada carry the label "Heritage Classic," starting with the one-off that inspired it all, in 2003, with the Edmonton Oilers hosting at Commonwealth Stadium, home of the Edmonton Elks (then known as the Edmonton Eskimos).

The Heritage Classic isn't held every year. In 2011, the Calgary Flames hosted at McMahon Stadium, home of the Calgary Stampeders. In 2014, the Vancouver Canucks hosted at BC Place, home of the BC Lions, with the roof open. In 2016, the Winnipeg Jets hosted at Investors Group Field, home of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. In 2019, the Jets were the official home team when the game was played at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Come up this March 13, the Sabres will host the Toronto Maple Leafs in between the 2 cities, at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario.

There is also the NHL Stadium Series. In 2014, the Los Angeles Kings hosted at Dodger Stadium; and the Blackhawks hosted at Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears. In 2015, the San Jose Sharks hosted at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, home of the San Francisco 49ers, even though it's closer to downtown San Jose than to downtown San Francisco.

In 2016, the Wild hosted at TCF (now Huntington) Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, home of the University of Minnesota's football team; and the Colorado Avalanche hosted at Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies. In 2017, the Penguins hosted at Heinz Field. In 2019, the Flyers hosted at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles.

In 2018, the Capitals hosted at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. In 2020, the Avalanche hosted at Falcon Stadium at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Michie Stadium, on the campus of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York has been considered as a site for an outdoor game, but not yet used as one.

This coming February 26, the Nashville Predators will host a Stadium Series game at Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans. And in 2023, the Carolina Hurricanes will go from the PNC Arena in Raleigh, next-door to Carter-Finley Stadium, home of the football team at North Carolina State University. (UPDATE: The Hurricanes' arena was renamed the Lenovo Center in 2024.)

On New Year's Day 2017, the Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the NHL Centennial Classic at BMO Field, home of the Toronto Argonauts and Toronto FC. On December 16 of that year, closer to the actual 100th Anniversary day for the NHL, the Ottawa Senators hosted the NHL 100 Classic at TD Place Stadium, home of the Ottawa Renegades. In February 2021, without fans due to COVID restrictions, 2 games were played at Edgewood Tahoe Resort in Stateline, Nevada, with the Vegas Golden Knights as the home team.

In 2014, the New York Rangers played Stadium Series games at Yankee Stadium, one against the New Jersey Devils, the other against the New York Islanders. In 2018, the NHL Winter Classic was played at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets.

For these games, the Rangers were officially the visiting team, because a contract means that any game where they are the designated home team must be played at Madison Square Garden. Some sort of tax break thing. So, despite there being a 374-mile distance from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo to The Garden, the Buffalo Sabres were the home team for the 2018 NHL Winter Classic.

Once the 2023 NHL Stadium Series game in Raleigh is played, that means all but the following NHL teams will have hosted at least one outdoor regular-season game: The Arizona Coyotes, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Florida Panthers, the Anaheim Ducks, the Columbus Blue Jackets, the expansion Seattle Kraken, and, oddly, the oldest NHL team, the Montreal Canadiens.

The reason the Habs haven't hosted is understandable: The Bell Centre, their usual home, is bigger than the biggest outdoor stadium in town, Molson Stadium, home of the Montreal Alouettes and McGill University's football team. The Olympic Stadium is a lot bigger, but the roof is now permanently closed, so it wouldn't be "outdoor hockey."

UPDATE: The 2024 NHL Winter Classic was won by Seattle over Vegas at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. That year's NHL Stadium Series was held at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands, with New Jersey beating Philadelphia, and the Rangers beating the Islanders. The 2025 NHL Winter Classic will be Chicago vs. St. Louis at Wrigley Field, and the 2025 NHL Stadium Series will be Columbus vs. Detroit at Ohio Stadium. That will leave Montreal, the 2 Florida teams, Anaheim, and the Coyotes, having moved to Salt Lake City, as the only teams never to have hosted an outdoor game.

The Sabres have a team Hall of Fame. It has the following members:

* From the 1970s: Goaltender Roger Crozier; defensemen Tim Horton, Jim Schoenfeld, Bill Hajt, Mike Robitaille and Jerry Korab; left wing Craig Ramsay; centers Don Luce and Jim Lorentz; right wing Danny Gare; and the "French Connection Line" of center Gilbert Perreault, left wing Rick Martin and right wing René Robert.

* From the 1980s: Goaltender Don Edwards; defensemen Hajt, Phil Housley, Mike Ramsey and Larry Playfair; left wing Dave Andreychuk; and right wing Mike Foligno.

* From the 1990s: Goaltender Dominik Hasek, centers Pat LaFontaine and Dale Hawerchuk, and right wings Alexander Mogilny and Rob Ray.

* From the 2000s and 2010s: Goaltender Ryan Miller.

* In addtion, they have honored founding team owners Seymour H. Knox III, his brother, Northrup R. Knox, Robert Swados and George Strawbridge; later team owner Robert Rich Jr.; founding coach and general manager George "Punch" Imlach, and coach Joe Crozier, no relation to Roger; early executives Fred Hunt and David Forman; scouts Mike Racicot and Rudy Migay, longtime equipment managers Frank Christie and Robert "Rip" Simonick; longtime public address announcer Milt Ellis; longtime broadcasters Ted Darling and Rick Jeanneret; and longtime local sportswriters Jack Gatecliff, Wayne Redshaw, Dick Johnston and Jim Kelley (no relation to Bills quarterback Jim Kelley).

In addition, these figures have been elected to the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame: Both Knox brothers, Imlach, Roger Crozier (but not Joe), Ramsay, Schoenfeld, Gare, Perreault, Martin, Robert, Edwards, Foligno, Hajt, Robitaille, Luce, Lorentz, Ramsey, Housley, LaFontaine, Andreychuk, Hasek, Mogilny, Miller, Simonick, Darling, Jeanneret; 1980s head coach Scotty Bowman, 1980s defenseman and 1990s and 2000s head coach Lindy Ruff, and 1990s center Michael Peca.

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January 1, 2008 was a Tuesday. There were 3 other games played in the NHL that day:

* The Washington Capitals beat the Ottawa Senators, 6-3 at what's now the Capital One Arena in Washington.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-3 at what's now the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 9-2 at what's now the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

There were no NBA games played that day. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was in midweek. But 6 college football bowl games were played:

* Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California: Number 6 USC beat Number 13 Illinois, 49-17.

* Sugar Bowl, Superdome, New Orleans: Number 4 Georgia beat Number 10 Hawaii, 41-10.

* Cotton Bowl, Dallas: Number 7 Missouri beat Number 25 Arkansas, 38-7.

* Capital One Bowl, from the Florida Citrus Bowl (now Camping World Stadium) in Orlando: Number 9 Florida were upset by unranked Michigan, 41-35.

* Outback Bowl, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa: Number 16 Tennessee beat Number 18 Wisconsin, 21-17.

* Gator Bowl, Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (now TIAA Bank Field: Number 21 Virginia were upset by unranked Texas Tech, 31-28.

And North London's Arsenal beat East London's West Ham United, 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium in North London.