"I remember driving into the parking lot in Buffalo with [executive producer] Sam Flood and Bob Costas on New Year's morning at 10:30 or quarter of 11 and being blown away by how many people were already tailgating,'' remembers Jon Miller, NBC Sports president of programming and the person who came up with the concept.

The NHL's Winter Classic, played each New Year's Day at an outdoor venue and televised by NBC, long ago established itself as an anticipated event on the sports calendar. The first one, in 2008, is all it took, actually, when the Buffalo Sabres hosted heralded rookie Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins at Ralph Wilson Stadium and the scene looked like something in a cherished snow globe.


"It was like being at the AFC Championship game in 1991. We all kind of looked at each other and thought, 'Holy cow, maybe we've caught lightning in a bottle.'

"Then Crosby ends up scoring the winning goal in that beautiful scene in front of 70,000-plus, we knew we were on to something pretty good."

The lightning hasn't always led to a jolt in ratings. The first seven Winter Classics rank as the most-watched NHL regular-season games on record, which is an achievement, to be sure. But the ratings are often dependent on the current state of the rivalry between the participating teams, and to a lesser degree the aesthetics of the venue. By those parameters, is it any wonder that last year's Blackhawks-Capitals matchup at Nationals Park was the lowest-rated Winter Classic, averaging a 1.92 household rating nationally?

Friday's matchup between the Bruins and Canadiens is an interesting case study in the game's appeal. NBC does not draw ratings from Montreal because it is not a Nielsen-measured US market; the game will be shown on SportsNet in Canada. But it is a historic and lively rivalry — the Bruins trail the Canadiens by a point (and the first-place Florida Panthers by 2) in the Atlantic Division — and the Bruins are a dependable draw. NBC should be satisfied with the final viewership numbers.


This is the Bruins' second appearance in the Winter Classic, with Gillette Stadium joining Fenway Park (2010, Bruins vs. Flyers) as a Massachusetts site. What's lesser known is that NBC hoped the Bruins would be involved in another Winter Classic — but in New York, and years before the inaugural Penguins-Sabres game. The idea was inspired by a certain unforgettable baseball series.

As Miller remembers it, late in 2004, NBC was looking for a distinctive sporting event to put on television on New Year's Day. NBC had been the home of the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl for years, but it had pretty much gotten out of the bowl business by the mid '90s. All that remained on its schedule was the Gator Bowl. The network walked away from that in 2003.

"We had just done our deal with the NHL," said Miller, "and so the idea was, well, we've got this great window on New Year's Day, college football had ceded the day, so let's have the Bruins come back to Yankee Stadium to play the Rangers on Jan. 1.

"The genesis of the idea came from the Red Sox-Yankees ALCS that October, which no one will ever forget, whether they're a Red Sox fan or a Yankees fan. We thought [Bruins-Rangers] would be fun to do because the Boston-New York rivalry had been so strong in all sports. We thought people would get excited, and I felt strongly that people would show up."


The Bruins agreed to do it. The Rangers were somewhat interested, but had concerns about logistics.

"Their lease at Madison Square Garden put up some roadblocks to them playing home games anywhere else,'' Miller said. "It was something that they were willing to petition and consider on a one-time basis."

So why did it never happen? Leave it to the Yankees to spoil the party.

"The Yankees were not that keen on putting a hockey game at Yankee Stadium, especially since they were about to tear down the stadium and there were a lot of other complicating issues,'' Miller said.

"That was one of the stumbling blocks. The other problem was that the NHL in 2004-05 didn't have a special events unit as they do now."

Nothing could be worked out in 2005. Then the NHL lockout happened, taking the possibility of a 2006 Winter Classic out of play.

"We continued to push for it in 2007, and finally got the NHL to agree to try it in January 2008,'' Miller said. "At that time, there was only one team that raised its hand as a willing participant: The Buffalo Sabres.

"But that Bruins-Rangers idea . . . I'll tell you, it's been in my mind since October 2004. It just never quite came to be."


Chad Finn can be reached at finn@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeChadFinn.