If you’re the National Hockey League, the smallest of the “big four” sports leagues, you have to think outside the rink — literally — to attract some attention. On New Year’s Day, the Buffalo Sabres host the Pittsburgh Penguins in an outdoor game. The “NHL Winter Classic” (Jan. 1, 1 pm/ET, NBC) has sold out 73,000 seats at Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the NFL’s Bills, and, on a day synonymous with college football, hopes to make an impact on TV, too. Bob Costas, who will be anchoring NBC’s coverage from Buffalo, thinks the unique nature of the game will be a real draw. "It really is an event,” he says. “I don't think you have to be somebody who follows the NHL day in and day out to enjoy it as an event.”It helps that the NHL’s “Next One” — the Penguins 20-year-old center Sidney Crosby — will be on the ice. Crosby won last year’s Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s MVP and the Art Ro...
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