Thirty-three American Hockey League alumni were in the lineup for the 2010 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic in Boston on New Year’s Day, as the Boston Bruins defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1 in overtime, at Fenway Park.
The game rosters featured 16 Flyers and 17 Bruins who have played in the AHL in their careers, including five — Johnny Boychuk, Vladimir Sobotka, Danny Syvret, Oskars Bartulis and Brian Boucher — who have played in the American Hockey League during the 2009-10 season. Syvret, an AHL All-Star in 2009, scored his first career NHL goal in the contest.
The lineups also featured 11 former AHL All-Stars and five former Calder Cup champions. Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette won the Louis A.R. Pieri Award in 1999 when he led the Providence Bruins to a Calder Cup title, and Bruins head coach Claude Julien shared the same award with current assistant Geoff Ward with the 2002-03 Hamilton Bulldogs.
The 2010 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic also marks 50 days the Mirabito Outdoor Classic, set for February 20 at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, N.Y., as the Syracuse Crunch host the Binghamton Senators in the first outdoor game in American Hockey League history.
AHL alumni in the 2010 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic | |
Philadelphia | Boston |
Blair Betts | Daniel Paille |
Dan Carcillo | Shawn Thornton |
Ian Laperriere | Steve Begin |
Jeff Carter | Patrice Bergeron |
Mike Richards | David Krejci |
James van Riemsdyk | Vladimir Sobotka |
Claude Giroux | Byron Bitz |
Darroll Powe | Michael Ryder |
Arron Asham | Marc Savard |
Daniel Briere | Dennis Wideman |
Oskars Bartulis | Andrew Ference |
Braydon Coburn | Zdeno Chara |
Matt Carle | Matt Hunwick |
Danny Syvret | Derek Morris |
Michael Leighton | Johnny Boychuk |
Brian Boucher | Tim Thomas |
Tuukka Rask |