With four days in between games against Vancouver, the San Jose Sharks had the day off on Thursday to rest following their six-game homestand. No rest for the Canucks however as they head to Southern California to face both the Ducks (Dec. 29) and Kings (Dec. 31) before the calendar turns over to 2012. The Sharks and Canucks renew their rivalry on Monday, Jan. 2, 2012 in Vancouver, ushering in the NBC Sports Network (formerly VERUS) with the debut broadcast on the rebranded sports channel.

So with the day free to talk about anything hockey related, we can take a moment to talk about that other game on Monday, Jan. 2, the 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic. Here's an update on the progress of the rink build at Citzens Bank Park in Philadelphia, courtesy of Dan Rosen from NHL.com. He reports on the ice markings being painted despite some unpredictable weather delays in his Winter Classic Blog.


It's a marvel of modern engineering really that they're even able to build ice in the locations and under the conditions that they do. And as you can tell from the time lapse at the top of the screen, it's an "all hands on deck" project.