By Gayle Fee/Boston Herald (TNS)


The bitter, never-ending riv­alry between the Bruins and the Canadiens will take centre stage in a four-part TV series, “EPIX Presents Road to the Winter Classic”, ramping up the drama as the two teams head towards the January 1 outdoor battle at Gillette Stadium.
“I think it’s one of the hidden gems of sports rivalries,” producer Ross Greenburg told the Track.
“It’s a lot like the Red Sox and Yankees. Even while we are filming, each team is asking us what the other one is allowing us to do. We even got caught up in it,” he added.
Greenburg’s crews are embedded with both teams from now until the Winter Classic, shooting all-access footage of practices and games, and spending time off the ice with the players.
“(Patrice) Bergeron, (Zdeno) Chara and (Brad) Marchand, the three stars, each have unique characters,” Greenburg said. “Bergeron is a slam-dunk team leader. Every time he takes the ice, he exudes professionalism and that’s off the ice as well. Obviously, he has a family and we’re going to delve into that world.
“Chara is the grizzled veteran who’s seen it all. But he talks a lot about his maturation as a person and a player. He’s the one who will pull a book out on the road.
“We are going to walk around the North End with him at the end of the week and see him interact with Boston. We’re also going to get him to recite some of the eight languages he knows just so people get a better understanding of the brute on the ice who has an ethereal mind.”
Marchand is, of course, the wild card. “That’s what we’ve heard,” Greenburg laughed. “But we’re still feeling him out, trying to get a good read.”
The crews also have spent time outside the arenas, capturing footage of fans in the two hockey-crazed cities.
“We want the city and the fans to be another character in the series,” Greenburg said. “Bruins fans are fanatical and the same goes for Montreal. We want to showcase that.”
The series will debut on December 16 on EPIX and will continue at 10 pm every Wednesday night until January 6, which will showcase the Winter Classic match-up. The series will be narrated by actor Bill Camp, who plays hockey in a weekly pickup league and who played Winter Hill Gang murder victim John Callahan in “Black Mass”.
Greenburg, a 53-time Emmy Award winner, has 102 sports shows on his resume, including “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel”, “Inside the NFL”, and “A Season With Notre Dame Football”. He also created “Hard Knocks”, the show that follows an NFL team through training camp.
So, Ross, will the Patriots ever be on “Hard Knocks”? “Never!” he laughed.
“We kid about it all the time. There’s no way Bill (Belichick) will ever let us in there.”

Penguins forward Dupuis retires over health issues

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Pascal Dupuis retired from ice hockey on Tuesday over a long-running medical condition that leaves him prone to blood clots.
The Penguins said in a statement that Dupuis, 36, would hang up his skates after having to come out of several recent games while on blood thinners to treat the problem.
“Despite playing on a medical protocol that has worked for other players in the NHL, we feel that the risk of Pascal playing with his condition and the side effects of the tests to monitor him are just not in the best interest of his long-term health,” Penguins team doctor Dharmesh Vyas said.
Dupuis said he was quitting to ease the concerns of his family.
“It was very difficult for me to make this decision to have to step away from the game,” Dupuis said. “My wife and four children have always been my first priority, and playing with my condition has become a constant worry for all of us.”
Dupuis has battled the problem since January 2014 after he suffered torn knee ligaments and was treated with blood thinners for six months.
A clot was found in one of his lungs in November 2014 and he sat out the remainder of last season before receiving clearance in June to resume training.
Dupuis played 871 career games in 15 seasons with the Penguins, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers and Atlanta Thrashers, tallying 190 goals and 409 points.