Takin' a T/O With BT: History is What Makes the Winter Classics a Success

Old-school style meets new-school glamour; that's what this year's NHL Winter Classic (Presented to you by the lovely tire-makers at Bridgestone!!) brought to the table.

Needless to say, a combination like that certainly doesn't disappoint.

From the outset, the game had the feel, the look, and the attitude of hockey's heyday, showcasing what originally made the game so great.

This year the story wasn't made by Jose Theodore's touque (a fashion statement which he admittedly made to keep his mother off his back about covering up outside) up in Edmonton or players trying to fight their way through checks and snow flurries in Buffalo, but by a revival.

The revival of the city of Chicago, the Blackhawks, and the great game of hockey.

As the players took to the ice for the pregame warmup the crowd was in full throttle.

The additional numbers pilling into Wrigley probably helped boost the volume a bit (40, 818 fans attended which is just under double the 'Hawks average attendance of 21, 552) and no where was that more apparent when the American National anthem was sung.

As Craig Simpson of CBC said, hockey in Chicago is back with the perfect exclamation point.

While the crowd was ready and waiting for the game, history took on a literal sense for this game.

Ferguson Jenkins, Billy Williams, and Ryne Sandberg of Chicago Cubs fame came out for the pregame festivities along with Blackhawks' legends Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull (donning a pair of leopard-print ear-muffs), and Tony Esposito, and Mr. Terrible himself Ted Lindsay for the ceremonial puck drop.

All of that combined with the Blackhawks' replica 1936 jerseys and the Red Wings' 1926/27 Detroit Cougars jerseys had fans ready for what Stompin' Tom Connors would call a "Good ol'Hockey Game".

As the puck dropped, Christobel Huet—donning a commemorative mask featuring the Wrigley Field score board—and Ty Conklin prepared for the unpredictable: If the weather remained ideal (as it had until puck drop) then the game would be free-flowing and would start to resemble the kind of game you could expect from these two teams indoors.

If the weather started to slide then, as Ty Conklin found out last year, the art of stopping a puck becomes increasingly difficult.

But the weather held up and while the first period featured some strong offensive play by each team with Chicago jumping out to a 3-1 lead, it was the style of play that was catching everyone's eye.

As the first period ticked by minute by minute, it seemed you couldn't turn your head without seeing a big hit or a scrap here or there. Goalies were being knocked around by the opposition, the whistles were mere signals for the tussels to start, and both teams were trying to make a case to prevent the opposition from running them over.

The highlight though? Brent Seabrook sending Dan Cleary into the Chicago bench during a Detroit penalty kill. Seeing only three penalty killers on the ice, Detroit sent on their fourth thinking Cleary was done the shift, only to get a too many men on the ice penalty as the New Foundland native made his way back to the bench.

Strangely enough that penalty led to Chicago's first goal.

While the first period was hard-hitting and heavy on the shots though, the game began to simmer as the second period opened up.

Even though the defending Stanley Cup champs were down though, they sought to prove, like every great champion in history, they weren't out. Not by a long shot.

Following a pair of goals from Jiri Hudler to tie the game at threes, Pavel Datsyuk scored one of the prettiest goals in the history of outdoor games, splitting the defense while controlling a wobbling puck, sliding it five-hole on Huet for a 4-3 lead.

As the second period led to the third period, the only discernible 'old-school' aspect of the game was Detroit's play: Aside from a late (10 seconds left in the game late) power play goal from Chicago, the Red Wings played a puck control game, adding two more goals to their lead, and controlling the play for a majority of the period (including an exactly five-minute whistleless streak in the middle of the period).

Well, that and the "revamped" version of 'Take me out to the ball game' sung by the aforementioned Chicago legends.

Sidenote: Seriously...replacing "three strikes you're out" with "three pucks you're out"? Couldn't someone have written a better variation than that? The only way that possibly made sense was if the 'Hawks were down by three at that point in time (which they were) and they were three pucks out of tying the game or something.

Also, "Take me out to the 'Hawks" game flows a lot better than "Take me out to the hockey game".

Remind me to call Andrew Lloyd Webber for next year's classic.

Even though the Wings' lead and play had levelled out the Chicago crowd as the seconds ticked away on the Winter Classic, you couldn't help but notice the game still had that throw-back feel to it on all levels, bolstered by the fact that this year was featuring a heated rivalry, as well as offering Chicago the opportunity to jump within four points of the Wings for Central Division supremacy.

So as the book closes on another Classic and the rink gets taken down (although that won't happen for another couple of days as it'll be left up for public free skates), the formula's been devised and followed to a tee for the winter classics.

Rivalries work.

While Original Six matchups are always going to yield the longest-brewing, most-heated games, turf wars like Toronto/Ottawa, New York/New York, and Philadelphia/Pittsburgh will bring the needed intensity to the Classics as well.

Matching up teams like Florida and Ottawa though or Nashville and Colorado are going to fail in bringing in fans passionate about the matchup itself and not just the teams, and the play will undoubtedly suffer as well.

So if the NHL wants to keep pedaling the Winter Classics, by all means be my guest.

Just leave it to the teams and the matchups it'll matter to.

Bryan Thiel is a Senior Writer and an NHL Community Leader for Bleacher Report. If you want to get in contact with Bryan you can do so through his profile, and you can also check out all of his previous work in his archives.