A Historic Hockey Game On Tap
For New Year’s Day

The AMP NHL Winter Classic comes to Buffalo

December 19, 2007 - The Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins will make National League Hockey history on New Year’s Day 2008 when they play outside in front of over 73,000 fans at the AMP NHL Winter Classic, which will be held at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Traditionally the home of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, the January 1st game at Ralph Wilson Stadium will be an historic day on two accounts for the NHL. With over 73,000 tickets sold, attendance at the contest will eclipse the NHL single-game attendance record set in November 2003 when over 57,000 people watched Edmonton and Montreal play outdoors in The Heritage Classic at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. The Sabres and Penguins contest is also the NHL’s first regular-season outdoor game to be played in the United States.

Buffalo was selected to host this game because of its classic winters, enthusiastic fan support, and proximity to both Canada and Pittsburgh. Ticket sales for the event shocked the professional sports community when all 73,000 sold-out within 45 minutes of going on sale.

The AMP NHL Winter Classic will also be a huge international television event. The game will be nationally televised in both the United States and Canada by NBC Sports, the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), and RDS, the French-speaking affiliate of The Sports Network (TSN).

The game will feature two of the NHL’s most talented, young teams. After advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals the past two seasons, Buffalo Sabres enter the game led by all-star goaltender Ryan Miller and forward Thomas Vanek. Pittsburgh will bring last season’s NHL scoring leader Sidney Crosby, and standout forwards Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal.

For more information about this event, visit www.sabres.com or www.nhl.com.