page_title: 2012 NHL Winter Classic
section_title: Alumni game
hierarchical_section_title: 2012 NHL Winter Classic / Alumni game
caption_attribution_description: English: Hockey Hall of Fame goalie Bernie Parent of the NHL Philadelphia Flyers returned to the ice in the 2012 NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game against the New York Rangers at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia for the first time since his playing career was ended almost 33 years earlier by eye injury in a game at the Spectrum on February 17, 1979. (Photograph by uploader)
context_page_description: The 2012 NHL Winter Classic was an outdoor regular season National Hockey League game, part of the Winter Classic series, played on January 2, 2012, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The game, the League's fifth Winter Classic, matched the New York Rangers against the Philadelphia Flyers, two Atlantic Division rivals; the Rangers won by a score of 3–2. The original plan was to have the contest at the Philadelphia Eagles' home, Lincoln Financial Field; however, the Eagles played there the day before, and the NHL needed at least a week of preparation time to build the ice rink onto the field. The game was broadcast by NBC in the United States and by CBC and RDS in Canada. NBC's announcers were Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, with Pierre McGuire handling sideline duties and Bob Costas as the studio host.
  The game returned to its original daytime time slot, with the Rangers-Flyers game beginning at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
context_section_description: An alumni game between former Flyers and Rangers players was played on December 31. The game was broadcast live by Versus, CBC Television, and Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, with a tape-delay broadcast on MSG Network. The start time was rescheduled to 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time from the original start time of 1:00 PM, due to weather concerns, but garnered a near sellout crowd nonetheless.
  Two storylines built headlines in anticipation of alumni game. One was Bernie Parent participating in the game at the age of 66. Parent decided to participate despite his age due to requests by fans. The return of Eric Lindros also grabbed headlines. Lindros was a very popular and successful player for the Flyers, but left the franchise amidst controversy and bad blood. The Flyers players all wore a small number "10" on top of their shoulders in memory of former Flyers defenseman Brad McCrimmon, who died in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash earlier in the year.
  The game began with a ceremonial faceoff between Flyer captain Bob Clarke and Ranger captain Mark Messier, dropped by Flyers chairman Ed Snider, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder, and a recent inductee in the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. The game started with a total of seven members of the Hockey Hall of Fame one the ice: Clarke, Parent, Messier, Bill Barber, Mark Howe, Mike Gartner and Brian Leetch. Glenn Anderson, another Hall of Fame Member, also participated in the game. Parent started the game and earned ovations by several saves, most notably one on a breakaway by Ron Duguay, but was replaced with Mark LaForest by his request five minutes into the game. Early in the game, Jeremy Roenick committed a rare alumni game hit on Darren Turcotte.
  The first goal of the game was scored by John LeClair on a pass by Eric Lindros, showing shades of the Legion of Doom. Mikael Renberg, the third member of the Legion, was invited to the game but was unable to participate due to prior commitments. Instead, Lindros and LeClair were joined by Mark Recchi, who retired less than 6 months earlier after winning the Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins at the age of 43. Recchi played with Lindros early in Lindros' career, forming the Crazy 8s line with Brent Fedyk before being traded for LeClair and Eric Desjardins, who also participated in the game. Shortly after Lindros scored, Shjon Podein cleaned up a rebound to put the Flyers up 2–0. The first penalty was committed by Eric Lindros, resulting in a penalty shot (as did all penalties in the game) for Nick Kypreos. Kypreos' attempt was however stopped by LaForest.
  Rangers goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck was replaced by Dan Blackburn to start the second period. Blackburn would keep the net clean for the entire period, also stopping a penalty shot by Podein after Podein was slashed by Nick Fotiu.  Flyers goalie LaForest was replaced by Neil Little halfway through the game without surrendering a goal. Little gave up a goal to a deflection by Glenn Anderson late in the 2nd period, cutting the Flyers lead to 2–1. The goal was originally credited to Brian Leetch before being changed. After the first five minutes in the third period, recent Hall of Fame inductee Mark Howe extended the lead to 3-1 by converting a penalty shot against Blackburn. Neil Little stopped another penalty shot by Glenn Anderson after Anderson was slashed by Bob Clarke. With both goaltenders shutting the door for the rest of the game, the game ended in a 3–1 Flyers win. Following the game, the two teams took part in a traditional handshake line. Afterwards, team photographs were taken, one of each team individually, and one with both teams together.
  The game was officiated by retired NHL referee Kerry Fraser and his son, current AHL referee Ryan Fraser. Former NHL referee Harry Dumas, who is also Kerry Fraser's son-in-law, with retired NHL linesmen Kevin Collins, who is currently and NHL Supervisor of Officials, served as linesmen for the game. Bernie Parent had a special mask painted for the occasion to be auctioned off for charity, but in the game wore the 
caption: Bernie Parent's return to the ice after 33 years for the 2012 Winter Classic Alumni Game.
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