Publication date: 22 Aug 2022
About the NHL Winter Classic
The NHL Winter Classic is an NHL regular season game. It takes place annually in early January outdoors.
2025 NHL Winter Classic
The 2025 NHL Winter Classic will take place between December 31, 2024 and January 1, 2025 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois.
History of the NHL Winter Classic
The history of friendly games between hockey clubs began in 1991. Back then, the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers played their first friendly outdoors.
After a while, NHL management decided to play one regular season game outdoors in early January. As part of the Winter Classic, the first game was played on 1 January 2008 between the Buffalo Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins. More than 70,000 fans attended that game.
One of the stadiums that host regular hockey games is the Michigan Stadium (also called The Big House). This stadium holds the world record for hockey game capacity with 104,173 spectators.
The 2023 NHL Winter Classic match is known for the lowest temperature in the history of such matches. Because of the severe frost, the ice had to be specially heated. The match took place in Minneapolis (Minnesota, USA).
Results of the previous NHL Winter Classic friendly games
| The year | Venue | Results |
| 2024 | T-Mobile Park, Seattle, Washington | Seattle Kraken (3:0) Vegas Golden Knight |
| 2023 | Fanway Park, Boston, Massachusetts | Pittsburgh Penguins (1:2) Boston Bruins |
| 2022 | Target Field, Minneapolis, Minnesota | Minnesota Wild (4:6) St. Louis Blues |
2026 NHL Winter Classic
The 2026 NHL Winter Classic match will traditionally take place in January. The venue and participating teams are currently unknown.
Keep an eye on the dates of the NHL Winter Classic and other events on our Sports Events Calendar.
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