No one knows why it's called the Hockey City Classic - Chicago is best known for it's bandwagon Blackhawks fans - but regardless, on Sunday, February 17, the Wisconsin men's hockey team will be playing Minnesota in the second game of a double-header outdoor hockey game and you're going to want to be there.
The first game starts at noon and pits Notre Dame against Miami of Ohio. The Wisconsin vs Minnesota game will take place when that one ends, approximately 3:30 pm.
Tickets for the outdoor game start at $15, which is actually totally reasonable. Chicago is an area known to produce young hockey talent, but the lack of a local college with a team and lack of ties to these teams could make attendance an issue. Plus, Soldier Field is huge.
The game taking place on a Sunday afternoon seems like it might severely limit the out-of-towners who will make the trek. We'll be coming from Milwaukee and we're happy with the 3:30 start time, as it will get us back to Milwaukee at a reasonable hour. But pretty much anyone that has to travel further than that is going to be limited by the Sunday choice. The teams apparently pushed for Sunday, since they're playing games in Madison and South Bend, respectively, on Friday night. The Sunday Classic allows for down time and travel to Chicago - but does make it more inconvenient for spectators. While the players will have get out of class free passes, the rest of us won't have that for work Monday morning.
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We plan on getting a hotel room, mostly because we don't see any other option. We certainly aren't wearing/carrying the necessary amount of warm clothing needed to sit outside in Chicago for seven hours in February. Parking near Soldier Field is pretty non-existant. We feel like we can park at a nearby hotel and take a cab or walk over and have a place to dress and undress, park and store our stuff.
The rest of the tickets will range from $25 up to $85 and they go on sale at 10 am on October 1st on Ticketmaster.
