(All opinions expressed in this article are my own. Stats are recorded as of 1/4/2025.)
Happy New Year, NHL fans! The NHL Winter Classic is one of the NHL’s annual outdoor games and a New Year tradition for hockey fans everywhere. This year’s Winter Classic was played on New Year’s Eve for the first time ever and took place at Wrigley Field, the longtime home of the Chicago Cubs.
The 2025 NHL Winter Classic was a Central Division showdown between the hometown Chicago Blackhawks and the St. Louis Blues. The Blues entered the game fifth in the division with 40 points, and the Blackhawks entered eighth in the division with 26 points.
GAME RECAP
Any energy the Blackhawks had from playing outdoors in their home city was quickly killed by the Blues scoring less than two minutes into the game. Defenseman Cam Fowler, who was also playing in his 1,000th game, took advantage of the early power play for the Blues and set the scene for the rest of the game. This wouldn’t be the only thing Fowler contributed; we’ll come back to him later on.
The other two goals in the first period also came on power plays: Jordan Kyrou scored for the Blues at 8:10 and Taylor Hall scored for the Blackhawks at 15:26. The score at the end of the first was 2-1 Blues.
The second period (and essentially the rest of the game) was all Blues. Justin Faulk and Dylan Holloway both scored for St. Louis (Faulk at 7:15 and Holloway at 13:34), and Cam Fowler got his second goal of the game minutes later at 17:51. Fowler’s multi-goal performance made him the obvious choice for the game MVP. The score at the end of the second was 5-1 Blues.
The Blackhawks tried to regroup in the third, coming out strong with forward Tyler Bertuzzi getting the first goal of the period at 11:15. However, the hole the Blackhawks dug for themselves proved to be too much to recover from, and Blues’ forward Alexandre Texier sealed the deal with a late goal (16:18) to end the game.
Final score: Blues 6, Blackhawks 2
The NHL’s next outdoor game, the 2025 NHL Stadium Series, will take place on Mar. 1, 2025, at Ohio Stadium on the campus of Ohio State University.
