On the heels of a wildly successful Winter Classic held at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, NY, home of the Buffalo Bills back on New Years Day, the NHL has decided to roll out a second contest on New Years Day 2009 at a venue that is well known, at least to anyone who reads this blog with any regularity.

On January 1, 2009, the Chicago Blackhawks will host the defending Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings at the hallowed grounds of the Friendly Confines, Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs.  This past Winter Classic was marked by snow and a Sidney Crosby shootout goal to give the Penguins a 2-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres before a raucous, sellout crowd of 71,217. 

The clash of Original Six combatants will be the 701st meeting between the two storied franchises, more than any other two teams have played each other in the regular season in the long history of the NHL.  The Hawks seem to be on the upswing, led by young stars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.  They were proactive in the free agency market as well, surprising for a Wirtz owned team, throwing truckloads of cash at free agent defenseman Brian Campbell and goaltender Cristobal Huet.  Perhaps, coupled with the actual television deal to get home games on the air, this is a new era in Hawks hockey under the late Bill Wirtz's son, Rocky Wirtz, the current chairman of the franchise.

The Wings are coming off a Cup victory, but have lost some personnel.  Dominik Hasek retired, as did Dallas Drake.  They did add Marian Hossa, the sniper winger, who went to Pittsburgh from Atlanta at the trade deadline last season.  However, they still are an aging team.  Chris Osgood, Nicklas Lidstrom, Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, Tomas Holmstrom, Brian Rafalski, and of course, the 46 year old Chris Chelios are all at least 34 years of age.  While the core of the team is young, Lidstrom will be almost impossible to replace when he does decide to hang up his skates for good.

All in all, the NHL is wise to schedule another Winter Classic.  The one between the Sabres and Penguins gave the NHL their best overnight ratings for a regular season game in over a decade.  Opening the possibility for more people to attend a game in an Original Six market than you could seat in a traditional venue is sound marketing.  The fact that the defending champs and an up and coming team are in the game should lead to excitement and another good rating as the NHL looks to wash the bad taste of the 2004-05 lockout from the fans mouths. 

Word is that the NHL is also in talks with the New York Yankees and the city of New York about playing a game in the new Yankee Stadium when it opens next season.  We'll see how that progresses.

Still, it's nice to see something good come from hockey lately, isn't it?