Autographs from Bruins legends to highlight NHL Winter Classic fan festival at City Hall Plaza – Boston Herald

If you can’t score tickets to the NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park, hockey fans will get the chance to mingle with former Bruins players during a two-day free, non-ticketed festival at City Hall Plaza next week.

Tuukka Rask and Shawn Thornton, 2011 Stanley Cup champions, and Hall of Famer Ray Bourque will be dishing out autographs on Dec. 30, an NHL source told the Herald on Tuesday. Terry O’Reilly and Adam Oates will be on hand as festivities wrap up New Year’s Eve.

Each of the five former players will have their own one-hour time slot for signature signing throughout the festival, said Chris Madigan, of NHL public relations firm, Brener Zwikel & Associates, Inc.

In addition to the autograph sessions, a giant 12-foot-by-24-foot air hockey table and puck shooting accuracy contests are expected to be fan favorites, Madigan said. The event, which will feature memorabilia stands, giveaways, and food, runs from 2 to 8 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. Fans will also get to pose next to the Stanley Cup trophy.

This will be among one of the first big events at City Hall Plaza since the civic space reopened in November following a $95 million renovation. The first phase focused on increasing accessibility and environmental sustainability.

“An event of this nature and size is exactly what we designed the renovated City Hall Plaza for,” city Chief of Operations Dion Irish said in a release.

There’s still time for fans to hop on tickets for the Bruins-Penguins tilt at Fenway. As of Tuesday afternoon, StubHub had about 1,500 tickets available for the Jan. 2 matinee, but they’re carrying an average price of $536, the ticket resale company spokesman Adam Budelli told the Herald.

The lowest ticket price was $348 for the 45th row in the right field bleachers, with many tickets coming in at over $1,000, StubHub listings showed Tuesday.

Carrying an NHL-leading 50 point, the Bruins have been StubHub’s top-selling NHL team for tickets this season based on the number of tickets sold and overall ticket price, Budelli said.

The NHL on Monday released a rendering of the rink which is being constructed to sit parallel to the iconic Green Monster. It’s a shift from when Fenway hosted the Winter Classic in 2010, when the sheet of ice spanned from first to third base, the traditional setup for outdoor NHL games at baseball stadiums.

“When you think about this game, in general, it’s like a perfect storm,” Budelli said. “Very exciting start to the season for the Bruins, leading the whole league in points, and just having an outdoor game and you have it in Fenway Park, nothing gets better than that.”