Discover NHL Winter Classic: Series History & What to Know for 2024

One of the NHL’s best traditions is hitting the Windy City. On December 31, 2024, the Discover NHL Winter Classic will take place at Chicago’s Wrigley Field and feature the Chicago Blackhawks hosting the St. Louis Blues. It will mark the seventh time the Blackhawks have participated in an NHL regular-season outdoor game and the third time for the Blues. The Blackhawks are 1-5-0 in regular-season outdoor games, while the Blues are 2-0-0. Both teams met in the 2017 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at Busch Stadium, where St. Louis won, 4-1.

Wrigley Field, the home of MLB’s Chicago Cubs, also hosted the 2009 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, in which the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Blackhawks, 6-4.

The Discover NHL Winter Classic will mark the fifth consecutive time the event is taking place at a Major League Baseball ballpark. The previous Discover NHL Winter Classic took place on January 1, 2024 when the Seattle Kraken hosted the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, the home of MLB’s Mariners. It was the first ever NHL outdoor game in Seattle. T-Mobile Park was the 14th venue and eighth baseball stadium to host the NHL’s premier regular-season event since it started in 2008. The Kraken beat the Golden Knights, 3-0, in an exciting game.

Discover NHL Winter Classic FAQ

Mother Nature and Outdoor Hockey

Despite snow, rain or frigid temperatures, all of the NHL Winter Classic games have pushed through and played on. The 2022 Discover NHL Winter Classic in Minneapolis between the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota Wild was the coldest game in NHL history; the temperature was -6 degrees Fahrenheit at the puck drop with a -18 degrees wind-chill factor. The temperature for this game was so cold, the grounds crew at Target Field had to heat up the ice to 22 degrees. According to NHL.com, “The floor of the Winter Classic ice rink is made of 283 aluminum ice pans. A mobile refrigeration unit pumps glycol through pipes to the pans and back to the truck to transfer heat.”

During the 2014 Bridgestone Winter Classic between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings at Michigan Stadium, a snow storm was so bad, the game had to be continuously paused in order to shovel snow off the ice. The snow and the cold are not the only problems that can result from the NHL Winter Classic games being outside; in 2012 it rained during the second period when the New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Though cold weather temps are the norm for NHL Winter Classic games, the heat has also been a problem. During the 2020 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic between the Nashville Predators and the Dallas Stars in Dallas, the temperature was 55 degrees Fahrenheit when the game started, causing the top layer of the ice to melt, erasing the white paint and NHL logo. Luckily, the NHL had planned for this possibility during the creation of the rink, and so the ice was designed to be 2-2.5 inches thick as opposed to the standard 1-1.5 inches thick so the game was able to be played, leading to a 4-2 Dallas victory.

NHL Winter Classic History

Beginning in 2008, the NHL Winter Classic has been a regular-season, outdoor hockey game on or around New Year’s Day. The first NHL Winter Classic was between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres at Ralph Wilson Stadium (now Highmark Stadium) in Orchard Park, New York, on January 1, 2008, with the Penguins winning 2-1 after defeating the Sabres in a shootout. Since the debut, the NHL Winter Classic has been played every year (excluding 2013 due to the lockout and 2021 due to COVID-19).

The outdoor event has been a NHL fan favorite, leading fans to embrace the temperatures and flock to the stadiums in record numbers. The 2014 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor holds the record for the largest NHL crowd with 105,491 tickets sold. Many teams have played in the NHL Winter Classic, but the Chicago Blackhawks have the unfortunate record of the most games played, and most games lost — being 0-4 since their 2009 debut at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

There have been a number of rule changes throughout the years in order to keep the game fair, including: teams are to switch sides halfway through the third period; if overtime occurs, teams are to switch sides during the 2.5 minute mark; and if a shootout occurs, goalies are allowed to decide which goal they would like to defend.

Past NHL Winter Classic Results

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