NHL Offers Look At Fenway Park-Specific Winter Classic Change

The 2023 NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park is quite literally starting to take shape.

The NHL on Monday will begin its detailed and involved buildout on the fabled field at the home of the Red Sox ahead of the Jan. 2 showdown between the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins.

The New Year clash is a return to the Fens for the first time since 2010 where the B’s beat the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime. Not only has Fenway Park enjoyed some significant renovations over that time, but this year’s version of the Winter Classic at Fenway will also look different on the field, too.

The NHL on Monday revealed renderings for the Jan. 2 game, announcing the field will be positioned slightly differently this time around. Instead of a first-to-third base pattern we’ve seen in years past, the rink will be moved out farther onto the field and will run parallel with the Green Monster.

For reference, here’s what the rink has looked like at Fenway Park in the past.

“A lot of what we do is for television, made for television, and even though we definitely want to create an incredible environment for our fans, playing off of that Green Monster with some of the devices that we have — jib cams, drones, sky cams — that’s what we’re going to do using the relationship between the Monster and the rink,” NHL chief content officer Steve Mayer told The Boston Globe. “I think it’s going to be very unique and definitely something that will be a huge takeaway for our audience.”

The NHL is expected to have more announcements over the next couple of weeks regarding other elements of the game experience. The Bruins and Penguins both unveiled their Winter Classic jerseys last month, and we even got a sneak peek at the Bruins goalies’ pads and masks for the outdoor game.