51şÚÁĎ

CHICAGO — After the Blues descended the four flights of stairs from the visitors clubhouse, after they emerged from the first base dugout, after they donned their special cream-colored “51şÚÁĎ” jerseys, the Blues arrived, at last, at Wrigley Field.

“We’re here now,” goaltender Jordan Binnington said, “and it’s time to enjoy the moment.”

The Blues practiced on Monday evening at the stadium, the prelude to Tuesday’s Winter Classic against the Blackhawks, the third Winter Classic in Blues history following 2017 at Busch Stadium and 2022 at Target Field. It is also the first time that an outdoor venue has been used again and the first rematch in Winter Classic history as the Blues and Blackhawks met in 2017.

The red marquee on the exterior of the famed baseball stadium still read “Wrigley Field,” the “home of Chicago Cubs,” but it also included Tuesday’s matchup on the black-and-white screen. The climbing ivy was covered, even if the winter-tinted brown ivy could be seen peeking out close to the foul poles. The out-of-town scoreboard in center field listed all the NHL games that will take place on Tuesday.

Hockey invaded baseball. 51şÚÁĎ against Chicago, just as the Midwest intended.

“It’s Cards-Cubs, it’s the big rivalry,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “I’ve been here to see three of those series, and now to be Blues-’Hawks here in Chicago at Wrigley Field, it’s going to be a great day.”

There will be hints of baseball included throughout the day.

There will be Binnington’s mask for the game, which features Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright on it. Plus, Binnington said he has two more similar-looking masks on hand but with different Cardinals greats depicted on the side of them.

“I think they’re more familiar with me and my time in 51şÚÁĎ,” Binnington said. “Obviously, legendary Cardinals players. With the baseball stadium, it felt like a good time to honor them.”

There will be 51şÚÁĎ native Pat Maroon on the other side, playing in his first season for the Blackhawks against the franchise he helped win the Stanley Cup in 2019. It was Maroon’s first trip to Wrigley Field, and of course, the Blackhawks are using the Cubs clubhouse, which puts the Cardinals fan in a tough spot.

“It is a little weird, I’m not going to lie,” Maroon said. “I was talking to the clubhouse manager, I was telling him I’m a Cardinals fan. They were like, �Oh, do you want some Cubs gear?’ I might have to sneak some Cubs gear in even though I don’t know if the DeWitts will like that, though.”

There was Oskar Sundqvist on Monday parading around in Harry Caray-styled glasses, complete with oversized lens and wide black frames. He went to the press box to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and wore the glasses on the ice for some photos. Sundqvist took them off for practice since “they’re really good at fogging up real quick.”

“The English version, we nailed it, one try,” Sundqvist said of the ballpark tune. “The Swedish one was harder. Didn’t really connect with the Swedish words. It took us a couple of tries, but me and (Philip) Broberg, we figured it out.”

There will be the Blues’ new helmet logo, a stylized and interlocking “StL” that could resemble the classic Cardinals logo if you squint hard enough. You won’t have to squint as hard to see the logo look like a treble clef.

There will be the stairs that the Blues have to battle during intermissions, a hike to the dugout that will be a welcome change from the sub-zero temperatures that Blues had to battle last time they played outdoors in Minneapolis.

“They’re always something,” Binnington said. “We have 80 stairs to climb up in between periods, so we’re going to figure that out, too.”

The sounds will be different without the stands right on top of the ice, as thuds from goalie pads feel like they’re delayed, Binnington said. The boards where the Zambobi doors are might be deader that other parts of the rink, which could impact how the teams are able to forecheck.

Tuesday’s forecast calls for rain early in the day, with showers supposed to clear in the afternoon and a possibility of snow. The 4 p.m. game time will allow the game to start when the sun is up and end in the darkness of Wrigleyville.

“You want to play in the daylight, and then it’s like you’re a little kid,” Montgomery said. “You stay out there for two hours until you need a hot chocolate to warm up your frozen toes and hands again. That’s the experience we’re going to have tomorrow. We wouldn’t want it any other way.”

The Blues enter the game squarely at .500, and coming off a 4-2 loss to the Sabres on Sunday afternoon that ended a brief string of two wins in a row.

“You have to embrace the moment,” Montgomery said. “You have to enjoy every second of it because this doesn’t happen very often. If your mindset is in the right place, and you’re in a place of gratitude, I think you’re going to play a great game. You’re going to go out there and you’re going to compete, you’re going to want that puck.”

In the big picture, Tuesday’s game will serve as another validation of the Blues franchise, chosen again to participate in a marquee league event. And, oh yeah, the Blues have never lost a Winter Classic, either.

“It’s a special time to live a childhood dream playing in front of a lot of fans in a historic stadium,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. “We feel very honored to be one of the teams chosen to play.”

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Photos: Blues practice in Wrigley Field ahead of Winter Classic

CHICAGO — Jake Neighbours would wake up, check his phone and figure out where he was going.

Would it be a pond? Or a lake? Or a basketball court that was flooded and frozen into a rink?

“Literally wake up: �What rink are we going to?’” Neighbours said. “�I heard this one’s got good ice.’ �All right, we’ll go there.’ And if it sucked, we’d pack up and go to another one. Some of the best memories.”

When he was younger, he would walk to the nearest outdoor rink when he was growing up in Calgary. And then his radius grew once he started driving.

“You’d always figure out from friends around the city who had the best ice that day, and you’d go to that rink,” Neighbours said. “Or if one wasn’t busy and you could get the whole rink to yourself, little things like that it what it grew into.”

Neighbours will get his chance to play on a much bigger stage Tuesday, when he plays in the first outdoor game of his NHL career as the Blues take on the Blackhawks at Wrigley Field. Neighbours will be among a handful of Blues players playing outdoors for the first time in their NHL careers, as Zack Bolduc, Alexandre Texier, Nathan Walker, Alexey Toropchenko, Tyler Tucker and Joel Hofer will also be first-timers.

Every other Blues player has played in an outdoor game, including eight who played at Target Field in Minnesota in 2022.

“It’s going to be like a dream,” Bolduc said. “Growing up watching Winter Classics, it’s going to be a fun few days in Chicago for sure.”

Neighbours, the 22-year-old who scored 27 goals for the Blues last season, said skating outdoors “was all I did” during winters in Alberta.

“It’s the pinnacle of hockey for me,” Neighbours said. “Being a Canadian kid, playing on the outdoor rink, some of those memories are the best memories I’ve ever had playing hockey, and it’s why you loved the game. Probably one of the bigger reasons why I fell in love with the sport. Being able to do it at this level and this stage is going to be really cool.”

Neighbours remembers one rink in particular.

It belonged to Pat Seeley, one of Neighbours’ coaches when he was younger. He built a near full-size rink in the backyard and flooded it with his modified Zamboni. Neighbours and his friends would arrive at 9 a.m., skate until 1 p.m., “come in with our skates still on,” eat lunch, go back until 6 p.m., eat dinner, and then — you guessed it — go back on the now-illuminated ice.

Outdoor skating would cause Neighbours’ parents more problems, too.

“My parents used to have the biggest headaches because I’d come home from school, and my practice wouldn’t be until 7,” Neighbours said. “I would go to the (outdoor rink) from 4 until 6. They would pick me up from the (outdoor rink), take me to practice and my skates would be dull from the bad ice. Then I would be terrible on the real practice. I couldn’t even skate. They would be pissed at me.”

Bolduc followed a similar schedule when he was growing up in Quebec. Once his homework was finished, he would hit the outdoor rink. When Bolduc goes home for Christmas, he sometimes will still sometimes visit the outdoor rink.

“After dinner, you go there with pretty much always the same friends every night,” Bolduc said. “It’s good memories, and when I’m going back home at my parents’ house, the outside rink is still there and it reminds me always of good memories.”

Both Bolduc (born in 2003) and Neighbours (2002) are young enough to have grown up with outdoor games as a regular occurrence. The first outdoor game was in 2003 and the first Winter Classic in 2008.

Bolduc picks out the original Winter Classic between Pittsburgh (“the baby blues with the snow,” as Bolduc says) and Buffalo as a favorite. He also liked watching the Canada-United States outdoor game at the 2018 World Juniors.

Now, it’ll be Neighbours’ and Bolduc’s turn.

“I think it’s going to be like a playoff game,” Neighbours said. “The excitement around the game, and the uniqueness it brings and how rare it is that you get the chance to play in one. From people who’ve played in it in past years and hearing it on podcasts, it’s like a middle of the season playoff game. I’m really excited for that.”

Practice updates

The Blues practice on Monday night at Wrigley Field, getting used to the outdoor surroundings before playing the Blackhawks on Tuesday.

Forward Radek Faksa did not skate with the Blues as he recovers from a cut close to his groin. Mathieu Joseph participated as an extra forward, while Scott Perunovich looked to be the odd man out on defense.

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It’s quickly closing in on a season and a half since gregarious Blues television commentator Darren Pang jumped to the Chicago Blackhawks’ TV crew. But after 14 years in 51şÚÁĎ he still maintains close ties to the area on a personal level, and on Tuesday, he’ll be highly visible in the city — and rest of the country — in a professional capacity.

Pang will be a key member of TNT’s telecast of the Winter Classic game, in which the Blues play the Blackhawks at Wrigley Field. He has moonlighted for national TV networks for many years and will be working on his ninth Classic, conducting player interviews. The game is set to start at 4 p.m., with TNT’s coverage also streamed on Max. Pang said covering the annual event, an outdoor game played in baseball or football stadiums, hasn’t lost its luster despite 15 of them having been played.

“It’s so great because every time you walk ... to the field, there’s just something we don’t have as hockey players,” he said. “I still walk around amazed at how impressive it is. Just the energy of the fans in sometimes god-awful weather and yet they have the energy and enthusiasm to be there. It does not get old.”

The weather forecast for the game isn’t bad, at least not by late-December standards in Chicago — the temperature in the upper 30s but breezy and dry conditions after rain earlier in the day.

The setting makes for picturesque TV coverage, and this time the rooftops on buildings across the street from the ballpark will be in use as they are for Cubs ballgames. That was not the case the other time the Classic was played there, in 2009.

“We’ve really tried to take advantage of what would be a Cubs game in so many different matters,” NHL chief content officer Steve Mayer told the Chicago Tribune. “And the rooftops will be pretty cool.”

Also planned is a homage to the Wrigley baseball tradition of the singing of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh-inning stretch. The hockey-adapted version is set for early in the third period.

Pang’s 51şÚÁĎ ties remain

Pang’s 51şÚÁĎ ties remain strong. His daughter and her husband live in the area, with three girls younger than 5. So does his sister and her husband. So he spent the NHL’s Christmas break in town.

“I was asking the grandkids if they want to take a Blues sweater and a Blackhawks sweater and cut them in half and sew them together with �Holy Jumpin’ on the back,” he said, chuckling, while referring to the phrase he uses on the air in exhilarating situations.

Pang remains popular figure in town and made some of the rounds while not spending time with family over his four-day stay last week. It was like old times.

He visited former Blues forward and broadcaster Kelly Chase, who was hospitalized as he has another battle with leukemia.

“He had a couple of (tough) days, he said it was the most pain he’d had in a little bit,” Pang said. “But I grabbed his arm and we walked around the floor, he got almost 300 steps in and then he went back and laid down.”

Pang was impressed by Chase’s toughness.

“It will not take his spirit away,” he said. “He’s got gumption as I like to say — or stubbornness! I’m not sure if it’s gumption or stubbornness, I often tell him. Whatever it is, it gets things done.”

Pang had other stops.

“I’m at Pure Hockey in Chesterfield,” he said of a store that sells hockey equipment. “I walk in the door and there are so many hockey fans, and they turn around right away and want to take pictures and they want to talk hockey and tell you they miss you or ask how you’re doing. I will forever appreciate the kindness of these Blues fans. They’re unbelievable.”

So why did he leave? It was a combination of financial uncertainty with Blues telecaster Bally Sports Midwest (now FanDuel Sports Network) owner Diamond Sports Group, which was headed toward bankruptcy, and relentless (and more financially lucrative) pursuit by the Blackhawks, for whom he was a goaltender in the 1980s.

“As I reflect on it now, I’m really ... appreciative of how aggressive they were and how they approached me,” he said. “That doesn’t happen all the time. It’s nothing from here (in 51şÚÁĎ), I never had a plan of leaving here, but I guess there’s always that fork in the road. The bottom line is that when someone wants you that much and makes that move, you feel pretty good about it.”

There were other emotions involved, too.

“You don’t just pour your heart and your energy and effort into it and just walk away,” Pang said. “If you do that, you’ve got no soul, and I’m not like that. It was not easy at all, there were many anxiety-filled moments to take place.”

His memories of his long run in 51şÚÁĎ are pleasant.

“I’ll always be part of their family,” he said of the Blues, and is excited about being able to be on the national telecast of a special event involving the team he formerly covered and the one he does now. He has been on the national and Chicago broadcasts of several Blues games since leaving 51şÚÁĎ, but the Classic should be special.

“This is pretty cool,” he said.

New look

For the first time, the Winter Classic will be played on New Year’s Eve after the previous 15 editions were conducted either on Jan. 1 or the next day (the legal holiday) in years when New Year’s Day fell on a Sunday.

But with the expanded playoff field this season in college football, there will be three quarterfinal games on New Year’s Day played back to back from early afternoon to late at night. So the NHL showcase will begin late on New Year’s Eve afternoon, although there likely will be some overlap with the first college playoff quarterfinal — the Fiesta Bowl (Boise State vs. Penn State) is set to kick off at 6:30 p.m., 2½ hours after the hockey game is scheduled to start.

Pang endorses the new slot for the Classic.

“You can’t compete with that stuff. You just can’t,” he said of the college playoffs. “Having it at 4 o’clock Central time on New Year’s Eve is perfect.”

He pointed out that people can go to the game then have plenty of time for their evening celebrations.

“I think we’ll get more energy because with a 12 o’clock game on New Year’s Day (as in the past), people have gone out the night before, they’re banged up, they’ve had a long night and now they’re trying to do it again. I think the energy and anticipation of New Year’s will be fantastic. I’m hoping it will be, and I know TNT is hoping the same thing.”

While the Classic is a showcase event for the league, the NHL isn’t featuring elite teams. The Blackhawks have the worst record in the league and the Blues are sixth among the eight Central Division teams. But Pang said the event is much bigger than the clubs participating.

“It’s the moment, it’s the atmosphere almost more than it is the game itself,” he said. “Especially at a place like Wrigley, or Fenway (Park in Boston), where we’ve had a couple of these.”

He expects the players to be revved up, though the Blues-Blackhawks rivalry has lost much of the oomph that it carried when the games in 51şÚÁĎ were played in The Arena and the ones in the Windy City were in Chicago Stadium.

“Do they despise each other right now? I wouldn’t say so,” Pang said. “But I do know that the core players understand the history of the cities, so whether they’re the two best teams in the league or two teams on the bottom rungs of it right now, I would hope that they would have the pride of representing their city and battling the way the cities would want them to battle. That’s what I’d bank on, not necessarily the standings but the event and the two cities.

“The crest on the front better mean something to these players, because it’s a big moment, it’s a big stage, there’s a lot of people watching (on TV), there’s a lot of people in the stands. If you don’t give it your best in that moment, you are missing the boat and maybe you don’t belong in this league.”

But he doesn’t expect that to be the case, adding that it’s a personal thrill to have done the teams’ Winter Classic matchup at Busch Stadium eight years ago and now set to be on the telecast of the one at Wrigley Field.

“Are you kidding me?” he asked. “It’s going to be unbelievable.”

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Television viewers will have two choices on how to watch Tuesday’s Winter Classic, the NHL outdoor game between the Blues and Chicago Blackhawks at Wrigley Field. And those who have the Max streaming service will have three options:

• Traditional coverage, the one on which former Blues broadcaster Darren Pang is set to appear, , and there will be plenty of pregame hoopla before faceoff time — which is listed for 4 p.m. but likely will be later.

The final installment of the “Road to the NHL Winter Classic” series, which focuses on the teams heading into the event, is set for 2:30 p.m. The pregame show begins at 3 o’clock, with Wayne Gretzky, Paul Bissonnette, Anson Carter and Liam McHugh setting the stage while broadcasting from a fan festival near the ballpark. Scheduled to be included is a performance by country music artist Jon Pardi.

Kenny Albert has the play-by-play assignment. Commentary will be provided by Eddie Olczyk, and Brian Boucher will add analysis from the ice level. In addition to Pang’s interviews, Jackie Redmond will provide reports from throughout Wrigley Field.

• An analytics-centric version of the telecast will be available on truTV and also streamed on Max, which producers are touting as a show that will “provide deeper context and understanding of how statistics are utilized by players, coaches and front offices across the National Hockey League.”

John Forslund will do the play-by-play of that one, with commentary from former NHL player Colby Armstrong as well as NHL Network analyst Mike Kelly, who also is the director of analytics and insights for Sportlogiq, a firm that used technology to evaluate sports performances.

TruTV also will carry the pregame programming that starts at 2:30 p.m.

• There will be a third version geared to deaf viewers, using American Sign Language. That will be streamed on Max.

Radio report

There also will be extensive coverage of the event on Blues radio network flagship station WXOS (101.1 FM).

Alex Ferrario, co-host of the station’s midday show as well as hosting Blues studio programming, is set to broadcast from Wrigley Field from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday. That leads into a one-hour show centering on the Classic and players who have participated in the event. Then regular pregame programming begins at 3 o’clock.

Chris Kerber (play-by-play) and Joey Vitale (analysis) then call the game.

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