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| Date | December 31, 2024 | |||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Wrigley Field | |||||||||||||||
| City | Chicago | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 40,933[1] | |||||||||||||||
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The2025 NHL Winter Classic was anoutdoor regular seasonNational Hockey League (NHL) game, part of theWinter Classic series. The game was played on December 31, 2024, with theChicago Blackhawks hosting theSt. Louis Blues atWrigley Field inChicago.[2] For the first time, two Winter Classics were held in the same calendar year, as the2024 Winter Classic had been played on January 1, 2024. The Blues defeated the Blackhawks 6–2.
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The league announced the game on February 7, 2024, during the first intermission of theNHL on TNT's broadcast of theTampa Bay Lightning–New York Rangers game.[2][3] Several media sources however leaked the game's site and opponents on the day before.[4][5][6]
This was a rematch of the2017 NHL Winter Classic, when theSt. Louis Blues defeated theChicago Blackhawks, 4−1, atBusch Stadium inSt. Louis. This was also Wrigley Field's second time hosting an NHL outdoor game, having previously hosted the2009 NHL Winter Classic.[2]
New Year's Eve was chosen as the date for the Winter Classic, as opposed to its traditional New Year's Day scheduling, in response to the expansion of theCollege Football Playoff from four teams to 12 beginning in the2024–25 postseason.[7]
A moment of silence for formerpresident of the United StatesJimmy Carter whodied two days earlier was held prior to the game.
| Scoring summary[8][a] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period | Team[b] | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score |
| 1st | STL | Cam Fowler (2) | Pavel Buchnevich (15),Robert Thomas (21) | 1:40 | 1–0 STL |
| STL | Jordan Kyrou (16) | Jake Neighbours (9),Dylan Holloway (12) | 8:10 | 2-0 STL | |
| CHI | Taylor Hall (8) | Ryan Donato (10) | 15:26 | 2–1 STL | |
| 2nd | STL | Justin Faulk (2) | Philip Broberg (11),Oskar Sundqvist (3) | 7:15 | 3–1 STL |
| STL | Dylan Holloway (14) | Justin Faulk (10),Brayden Schenn (14) | 13:34 | 4–1 STL | |
| STL | Cam Fowler (3) | Unassisted | 17:51 | 5–1 STL | |
| 3rd | CHI | Tyler Bertuzzi (12) | Seth Jones (10),Connor Bedard (23) | 11:15 | 5–2 STL |
| STL | Alexandre Texier (3) | Justin Faulk (11),Nathan Walker (4) | 16:18 | 6–2 STL | |
| Penalty summary[8] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period | Team | Player | Penalty | ||
| 1st | CHI | Louis Crevier | Delaying Game | ||
| CHI | Nolan Allan | Holding | |||
| STL | Philip Broberg | Interference | |||
| 2nd | CHI | Taylor Hall | Hooking | ||
| STL | Alexey Toropchenko | Interference | |||
| CHI | Nick Foligno | Fighting | |||
| STL | Brayden Schenn | Fighting | |||
| 3rd | STL | Pavel Buchnevich | Tripping | ||
| STL | Zachary Bolduc | Cross-checking | |||
| CHI | Tyler Bertuzzi | Slashing | |||
| STL | Alexey Toropchenko | Tripping | |||
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| Three star selections[8] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Player | Statistics | |
| 1st | STL | Cam Fowler | 2 goals |
| 2nd | STL | Justin Faulk | 1 goal, 2 assists |
| 3rd | CHI | Taylor Hall | 1 goal |
TheAmerican national anthem was performed by Blackhawks anthem singerJim Cornelison, accompanied by organist Carrie Marcotte andAmerican Sign Language performer Nathaniel Kelly and Interpreter Samantha Taplin. This is Cornelison's third time performing the national anthem at the Winter Classic, following 2009 and 2019. Chicago-based rapperChance the Rapper performed during the first intermission. Chicago-based rock groupThe Smashing Pumpkins performed during the player introductions while lead singerBilly Corgan performed "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".
In the United States, broadcasting rights to the game are held byTNT, with sister channelTruTV simulcasting, and streaming onMax. In Canada, rights are held bySportsnet with streaming onSportsnet+.
The Winter Classic had been on a steady decline in ratings, one exacerbated by the move to the cable-onlyTNT in 2022, and the move to the less crowded slot on New Year's Eve afternoon (much of the game took place in the gap between the2024 Texas Bowl ending and theFiesta Bowl's kickoff) was intended to make the event "something (...) very unique on that day."[9]
In practice, the move to New Year's Eve backfired, with viewership hitting an all-time low for the event, as one of the bowl games that partially overlapped with the game, theCitrus Bowl, featured theIllinois Fighting Illini football team (potentially diverting Illinois viewers away from the game); viewers also commented on social media of how they had not noticed the date change and had sought the game on television during New Year's Day only to find they had missed it, while others expressed burnout toward seeing the Blackhawks in yet another Winter Classic after losing all four previous appearances and sitting, at the time, in last place in the NHL's standings.
The timing also meant that much of the country west of theEastern Time Zone was at work or commuting home during the game, as New Year's Eve is not universally recognized as a work holiday.[10]
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