Oh hey: Let’s talk some more about the Winter Classic, shall we? You know, that outdoor hockey game at Wrigley Field between the Blackhawks and the Red Wings? New Year’s Day? Ring a bell? Great.

Because Greg over at Puck Daddy is actually good at his job, he caught up Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President of Marketing for the NHL, to chat a bit about how the NHL is going about marketing this thing. (If you missed the commerical, get on it now.)

An excerpt:

Yeah, there are two Original Six teams; and we recognized that Chicago was going through this incredible revitalization and we certainly recognized the position that Detroit has. But in this iconic ballpark — and Bob Costas would chastise me for saying that, because he actually said when he was doing a voiceover that you don’t need to say “iconic” and “Wrigley” — the fact of the matter is that we wanted to play up that we were going into this iconic stadium, and a magical place.

[ ... ]

I don’t want to diminish that it’s a hockey game being played outdoors. But we had choices to make where we could have hosted this game, and it didn’t happen by happenstance that Wrigley was chosen as the site. We think it’s a magical place. Why not take advantage of playing that up?

For as much as I’d like to make some joke about wizards and sorcerers inside “magical” Wrigley Field; Jennings is right. Wrigley is a fantastic place in the eyes of many. Word has it the choice was between Wrigley and old Yankee Stadium for the upcoming Winter Classic. The fact that the NHL brass went with Wrigley over a historic stadium in the biggest sports stage in the country (New York) speaks volumes about both the Blackhawks’ rise, the city of Chicago and yes, Wrigley Field.