Winter Classic Rings in New Year – January 1

The NHL’s annual Winter Classic is all set for today at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park. The Seattle Kraken, the NHL’s newest franchise, will take on the Vegas Golden Knights, the league’s second-newest team. Vegas is currently tied with Vancouver for the lead in the Pacific Division. Both teams have 49 points. Seattle is fifth in the division standings with a 14-14-9 record heading into today’s Winter Classic.

The Winter Classic starts at 3:00 p.m ET and offers an appetizer before the College Football Playoff semifinals. It’s a huge day in sports, this New Year’s Day. In addition to the Winter Classic, there are five bowl games. The final two of the day – the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl – are this year’s CFP semifinals. More on those games later.

History of the Winter Classic

The first Winter Classic was played in 2008. In 2001, the University of Michigan and Michigan State University played the annual “Cold War” rivalry game outdoors at Spartan Stadium in Lansing, Michigan. The success of that game plus the 2003 Heritage Classic (the Oilers played the Montreal Canadiens outdoors in Edmonton) paved the way for an annual Winter Classic.

The Pittsburgh Penguins played in Buffalo against the Sabres on January 1, 2008, in the first Winter Classic. Attendance was over 71,000 and the Winter Classic has been played every year since with the exception of the 2013 lockout and 2021 due to COVID. The Winter Classic game is usually played on January 1 each year, but a few games, including last year’s, are played on January 2. 

The Winter Classic is not to be confused with the Heritage Classic and the NHL Stadium Series. The Winter Classic matchup always occurs on or around January 1 each season. This year’s Heritage Classic, also an outdoor game, was played in October. Edmonton beat Calgary 5-2. The Heritage Classic is always held in outdoor Canadian Stadiums and, so far, has featured all Canadian NHL teams.

The NHL Stadium Series is another outdoor game or series of games held in January, February, or March in a stadium in the U.S. The first Stadium Series games were held in 2014. This year, there are two games scheduled, both to be played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The Philadelphia Flyers will play the New Jersey Devils on February 17. The very next day, the Rangers and Islanders will face off.

Happy New Year for Sports Hub Cappers

It’s a New Year and our Sports Hub handicappers continue to do what they do best – win. The last day of 2023 went out with some serious wins by Scott’s Picks and Sports Hub expert Sean Kuchman. The pair combined to go 26-13 and win over $1000! All throughout yesterday’s top-10 were Sports Hub exclusive handicappers. It was a great way to end the year.

Here’s the final leaderboard of 2023.

• Scott’s Picks does it again: Scott has been on a serious roll. Yesterday, he hit 15 of 22 picks and totaled $738 in winnings. It was a great way to close 2023 as Scott totaled $1158 over the last three days and $1715 over the last seven. Here’s to continued success in the New Year!
• Sean Kuchman tore it up: Sports Hub expert Sean put in 17 picks yesterday – a combination of NFL and NHL picks – and went 11-6. Sean collected winnings of $375 which puts him up $1538 for the last 30 days. It will be worth checking our picks database today to see if Sean has a pick for the NHL Winter Classic.
• Everybody loves free picks: Our Sports Hub Free Picks were back in the top-3 again going 6-2 and winning $363. For the month now, our Free Picks are winning at a 60 percent clip and have earned $1594. That’s good for fourth place on the 30-day overall leaderboard.
• Top 10: The rest of yesterday’s top-10 was full of Sports Hub experts. Our Computer Picks got in on the action going 12-9 and earning $220. Diego Garcia and Robert Jones both went 3-0 and won $300. Kyle Buchman, Seth Cohen, and Coach Rick all went 2-0 and earned $200.

Best Team in the NFL?

Well, the Baltimore Ravens left no doubt yesterday. The Ravens poured one on the Miami Dolphins yesterday. Head coach John Harbaugh’s team is solid defensively and with the front-runner in the NFL MVP race Lamar Jackson at quarterback, this team is going to be hard to stop.

College football’s playoff starts today with the national semifinals. You can get yourself prepared and ready to go for all the action today by visiting our college football bowl picks page. Our experts break down the bowl games and offer the best picks available. Don’t forget to check our picks database too!

Here’s what’s trending on the first day of 2024.

• Baltimore Ravens: The Ravens spotted Miami a touchdown and then proceeded to gut the Dolphins. Jackson had a perfect passer rating, 321 passing yards, and five touchdown passes as Baltimore crushed Miami 56-19. The Ravens are 13-3 and are the top seed in the AFC playoffs right now.

• Jordan Love: The Green Bay quarterback kept the Packers alive in the NFC playoff race yesterday. Love went 24-for-33 for 256 yards and three touchdowns to lead Green Bay to a 33-10 win over Minnesota. The win puts Green Bay in the No. 7 spot in the NFC. A win over the Bears next week can put the Packers back in the postseason.
• Eagles grounded: What is going on in Philadelphia? The Eagles lost 35-31 to Arizona. It was just the Cardinals fourth win of the season. It marked the fourth loss in five games for the Eagles who are now 11-5. The loss combined with Dallas’ win over Detroit on Saturday puts the Cowboys in the NFC East driver’s seat. The Eagles finish the season next week at the New York Giants.
• CFP semifinals: No. 4 Alabama plays No. 1 Michigan in the Rose Bowl and No. 2 Washington faces No. 3 Texas in the Sugar Bowl. The College Football Playoff is finally here.

Winter Classic and CFP Semifinals – Happy New Year!

It doesn’t get much better than this. A beautiful Winter Classic in the Pacific Northwest followed by the College Football Playoff semifinals. And, don’t forget, there are three other bowl games too! 

1. CFP semifinals: As mentioned, it’s Michigan-Alabama in the Rose Bowl and Texas-Washington in the Sugar Bowl. The winners of each game will play next Monday night in the CFP national championship game.
2. NHL Winter Classic: It is the only game on the NHL schedule today. The two newest franchises in the NHL square off at T-Mobile Stadium in Seattle. It’s the Kraken versus the Golden Knights in the 2024 Winter Classic.

3. NBA: There are eight games in the NBA today, beginning with Minnesota at New York at 3:00 p.m. ET. The NBA day ends with Miami playing the Los Angeles Clippers starting at 10:30 p.m. ET.
4. College basketball: There are only five NCAAB games today. One of those features No. 21 Texas playing at home against UT-Arlington. Teams will begin their conference schedules this week.
5. Tennis: The Brisbane International and the ASB Classic tennis tournaments continue this weekend for both the men and women.
6. Soccer: Liverpool plays Newcastle United in the only Premier League match today. It’s a big soccer day in England where the English League Championship, English League One, English League Two, and English National League all have multiple matches.

Happy New Year to all! Let’s start off 2024 on a good note and get some wins. Make it a winning day by visiting the Sports Hub picks database and riding our red-hot handicappers. Search the database by handicapper, sport, bet type, and more. Find out who’s hot and get in on their action. Here’s to a healthy, prosperous, and winning 2024!