The 2022 NHL Winter Classic was an outdoor regular season

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) game, part of the

Winter Classic The NHL Winter Classic (french: La Classique hivernale de la LNH) is an annual regular season outdoor ice hockey game played in the National Hockey League (NHL) on or around New Year's Day, generally in a football or baseball stadium in an area ...

series. It was played at

Target Field Target Field is a baseball stadium in the North Loop, Minneapolis, historic warehouse district of downtown Minneapolis. Since its opening in 2010, the stadium has been the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Minnesota Twins. The stadium hos ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, between the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

and the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

. The Blues defeated the Wild by a score of 6–4. The game was originally scheduled for 2021 but was postponed a year due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Background

The NHL announced on January 1, 2020, that the 2021 Winter Classic would be hosted by the

. The league then announced on February 23, 2020, that the St. Louis Blues would be the visiting team. The league had previously contemplated Target Field as a host for a Winter Classic game, touring the stadium both in 2018 and 2019, and observing how the area hosted the NCAA Final Four in 2019. It was to be the Wild's second outdoor game after hosting the

2016 NHL Stadium Series The 2016 NHL Stadium Series (branded as the 2016 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series for sponsorship reasons) was a series of two outdoor regular season National Hockey League (NHL) games played during the 2015–16 NHL season. The 2016 Stadium Serie ...

against the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

TCF Bank Stadium Huntington Bank Stadium (formerly known as TCF Bank Stadium) is an outdoor stadium located on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The stadium opened in 2009, after three years of construction. It i ...

. This was also to be the Blues' second outdoor game after hosting the

2017 NHL Winter Classic The 2017 NHL Winter Classic (officially the 2017 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic) was an outdoor regular season National Hockey League (NHL) game, part of the Winter Classic series, played on January 2, 2017. The game featured the St. Louis Blue ...

against the Blackhawks at

Busch Stadium Busch Stadium (also referred to informally as "New Busch Stadium" or "Busch Stadium III") is a baseball stadium located in St. Louis, Missouri. The stadium serves as the home of the St. Louis Cardinals, the city's Major League Baseball (M ...

. The NHL delayed the start of the 2020–21 season to January 2021, due to the

having forced the 2019–20 playoffs to conclude in late-September. If the Winter Classic were to be held, it would have likely served as the season opener for both teams. On October 22, 2020, the NHL announced that the 2021 Winter Classic, and the 2021 All-Star Game in Sunrise, Florida, had been postponed due to "uncertainty as to when we will be able to welcome our fans back to our games," as fan participation and accompanying events are considered "integral to the rsuccess." The NHL stated that both events would not return until 2022 at the earliest, and that these events could be held in Minneapolis and Sunrise "in the near future" (but not yet naming them the 2022 hosts). On June 28, 2021, the league confirmed that the Winter Classic between the Blues and the Wild at Target Field would be scheduled for 2022. The league further announced on September 27, 2021, that it would be the first Winter Classic scheduled for primetime, avoiding a repeat of the sunlight and heat issues that occurred during the previous season's NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe. With various December 2021 games being postponed league-wide due to COVID-19 outbreaks among a large number of teams, the NHL remained adamant about holding the Winter Classic as scheduled. With the game time temperature at , this was the coldest NHL outdoor game in history.

Game summary

:''Number in parenthesis represents the player's total in goals or assists to that point of the season''

Team rosters

: Ville Husso dressed as the back-up goaltender for St. Louis and did not enter the game.

Scratches

*St. Louis Blues:

Robert Bortuzzo Robert Bortuzzo (born March 18, 1989) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL). Bortuzzo was drafted 78th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. Growi ...

, Jake Walman *Minnesota Wild:

Jonas Brodin Jonas Brodin (born 12 July 1993) is a Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman for the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted tenth overall by the Wild in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Born in Karlstad, he was raised in ...

Joel Eriksson Ek Joel Eriksson Ek (last name sometimes stylized as Eriksson-Ek, born 29 January 1997) is a Swedish professional ice hockey centre for the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted 20th overall by the Wild in the 2015 NH ...

Entertainment

Singers of This Age, a group of

Minneapolis–Saint Paul Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is commonly known as the Twin Cities ...

high school students, performed the national anthem. Minnesota sports stars were then introduced, including Rachel Banham of the Minnesota Lynx, former

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

player

Troy Hudson Troy Elderon Hudson (born March 13, 1976) is an American retired professional basketball point guard. He played 11 years in the National Basketball Association (NBA) after going undrafted in 1997. He averaged a career-high 14.2 points per game w ...

, and former

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

player John Randle. Former Minnesota Twins players

Justin Morneau Justin Ernest George Morneau (born May 15, 1981) is a Canadian former professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Colorado Rockies, and Chicago White Sox. At and , ...

Joe Mauer Joseph Patrick Mauer (born April 19, 1983) is an American former professional baseball catcher and first baseman, who spent his entire 15-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Minnesota Twins. A six-time All-Star, Mauer is the only c ...

Kent Hrbek Kent Alan Hrbek (; born May 21, 1960), nicknamed "Herbie", is a former American Major League Baseball first baseman. He played his entire 14-year baseball career with the Minnesota Twins (1981–1994). Hrbek batted left-handed and threw right-hand ...

, and

Tony Oliva Tony Pedro Oliva (born Antonio Oliva Lopez Hernandes Javique; July 20, 1938) is a Cuban former professional baseball player and coach. He played his entire career in Major League Baseball as a right fielder and designated hitter for the Minneso ...

participated in the ceremonial puck drop. Country music singer

Thomas Rhett Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

performed during the first intermission. The roster for the U.S. Olympic women's ice hockey team competing at the 2022 Winter Olympics was revealed during the second intermission.

Broadcasting

In April 2021,

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

acquired the rights to the U.S. television broadcast. The American radio rights will be held by

Sports USA Radio Network Sports USA Media is the largest independent sports broadcasting radio network in the United States, specializing in live broadcasts of American football, specifically of the NCAA football Division I-A and National Football League. In 2018, more th ...

, the first in a four-year agreement with Sports USA. With the game being scheduled for a Saturday night, it aired in Canada under the ''

Hockey Night in Canada CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...

'' banner on Sportsnet.

Notes

References

{{Hockey Night in Canada NHL Winter Classic

St. Louis Blues games Minnesota Wild games Sports competitions in Minneapolis National Hockey League in Minneapolis–Saint Paul NHL Winter Classic 2022 in sports in Minnesota 2020s in Minneapolis