It's official: Blackhawks to play outdoors at Wrigley

When Blackhawks president John McDonough saw the Buffalo Sabres play the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 1 in the NHL Winter Classic in Orchard Park, N.Y., a light bulb went off.

Why not pursue the next outdoor game for Chicago?

Then McDonough took the concept one step further.

Why not play the game in historic Wrigley Field?

After more than four months of dialogue with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, the league made it official Wednesday and awarded the 2009 Winter Classic to the Hawks.

The Hawks will face the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings at noon on Jan. 1, 2009, in Wrigley Field - likely to be referred to on that day as the Frigid Confines. NBC will televise the game nationally.

"Never in my 24 years with the Cubs did I envision a hockey rink in the middle of the field," said McDonough, a longtime Cubs executive before joining the Hawks.

"This is great for the Blackhawks, our fans and the city of Chicago. It's great to be recognized by the league by bringing this game to Chicago," McDonough said. "But I do believe the primary reason we're playing this game here is because of the exciting young team we have."

The Hawks weren't always the front-runner to host the 2009 Winter Classic, which will be the league's third game played outside. The NHL had serious discussions with the New York Rangers about staging it as the final event in Yankee Stadium, but there were logistic problems that couldn't be worked out.

McDonough first ran his idea past Cubs chairman Crane Kenney in February and got positive feedback.

"I had serious dialogue with the Cubs, and after talking to Crane Kenney I got a sense that this was going to become a reality," McDonough said. "This is a chance to play in America's most beautiful ballpark in the middle of winter, and a lot of people probably have never seen how beautiful Wrigley Field looks in winter.

"This is going to be a holiday card for NBC, the city of Chicago and the Blackhawks."

There were discussions between the Hawks, the Chicago Park District and the Bears about possibly playing the game at Soldier Field, which holds considerably more people than the 41,160 who can be squeezed into Wrigley Field.

"We did have discussions with the people at Soldier Field and the people with the Bears," McDonough said. "But the issue was this game takes place on a Thursday, and it was conceivable the Bears could play a playoff game on Saturday (Jan. 3), so there wouldn't have been enough time to get the field ready."

Nevertheless, McDonough's choice of venues all along was Wrigley Field with its tradition, the rooftops, scoreboard and busy neighborhood as all part of the experience.

"We expect interest to be on an international level for this once-in-a-lifetime event," Hawks chairman Rocky Wirtz said.

"This is going to be something else," said NBC hockey analyst Darren Pang, who worked the Jan. 1 game in Orchard Park. "It's Wrigley Field. It's the Cubs. It's the unique neighborhood. This is going to be an event that has a baseball feel in the middle of winter."

The weather certainly should be a hot topic in the weeks leading up to the game. The conditions were nearly ideal in New York on Jan. 1. It wasn't too cold and snow fell, adding to the drama of the setting.

There was a high of 27 degrees in Chicago on Jan. 1, with winds at 15 mph out of the west-northwest and some blowing snow. But a few days later temperatures were in the 50s.

The record high in Chicago on Jan. 1 is 65, set in 1876. The record low is 10 below zero in 1969. The average high on Jan. 1 in Chicago for the last 10 years is 35 degrees.

There was a contingency plan in place at Buffalo in January to play the game indoors at HSBC Arena on Jan. 2 if the weather didn't cooperate.

"That's the fear, that you get temperatures in the 50s with a little sunshine. Then you've got a problem (with the ice)," Pang said. "But that's the way it is. It's worth the risk."

New Hawks defenseman Brian Campbell probably can't believe his luck. He played in the game last Jan. 1, scoring the Sabres' only goal in a 2-1 loss to the Penguins and thought it might be a his only experience playing outside.

Campbell said playing in that setting was one of his greatest thrills.

"In Buffalo, it was an amazing thing with the snow and weather the way it was," Campbell said. "The buzz in the city was all wrapped around that - how do you get tickets, what are you doing to get prepared, how's your tailgate going to be?

"It was mayhem and a lot of fun for players on both sides to be able to be involved in that. It's something you take a lot of pride in and another thing that the fans can get involved in, and the city, and be excited about it."