New Year’s Day and Traditions

Happy New Year everyone!!

My family’s tradition is usually watching the Rose Parade (and then the College Football games). But after watching that live 3 times in my 20s, and “sleeping” (more like celebrating almost all night) on the streets in order to watch the parade in the morning from the sidelines was fun. Now the parade just isn’t the same.

So now I’ve been watching the NHL’s Winter Classic Hockey Games. This year is at the New England’s Patriots field, with Montreal Canadiens vs Boston Bruins.

What’s so special about these games you ask? Well, be sides the obvious of the Outdoor Ice Rink and weather conditions, and the much larger audience scale, it’s now a great hockey tradition IMO. And they don’t just pick out some random teams to play these Winter Classic Games, they pick the rivalry teams. Like a couple years ago it was the Kings vs the Ducks at the Dodgers Stadium (big hockey rivals in Southern California). And according to the announcers, Montreal and Boston have a very old rivalry.

So along with these rivalries, comes the traditional hockey fights. The ones where you expect a fight of some sort to happen in any hockey game. In the past games with Montreal and Boston, there’s been a lot of those, but so far the game has been going pretty study without any. But I’m sure there will be one later.

Oh wait, 9 minutes in the official time of the game and there is a fight. But it was still mild. Just some pushing and shoving, without any penalties.

Oh and another bigger fight, this time with gloved fists, but no penalties. What’s up with the no penalties? Well, they allow some of these fights in the NHL, but definitely not in the Olympics.

And if you don’t like all the fighting, there is some good hockey going on. And if you don’t even like hockey, there’s the music. Bands perform a song before the game, and during the two intermissions.

Bands like American Authors, Simple Plan, Jordon Smith (The Voice winner), Boston Pops, and Nate Ruess (all the bands are supposed to be from the team’s hometown).

What’s your New Year’s Day Traditions?