The third-annual Hockey City Classic is slated for Soldier Field on Feb. 7, "offering a college hockey doubleheader" of Michigan-Michigan State and Miami (OH)-Western Michigan, according to Danny Ecker of CRAIN's CHICAGO BUSINESS. After staging this year's games at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Chicago-based Intersport is "bringing the event back to the site that hosted the inaugural games" in '13. The '13 edition "drew more than 52,000 fans for the first two hockey games in the stadium's history." One "major difference from the structure" of the '13 event is that next year's games will be at the "beginning of nearly two weeks of activities as opposed to the end." The Feb. 7 games will be "followed by about 10 days of ice time for the public, corporate partners, hockey clinics and exhibition matches" (CHICAGOBUSINESS.com, 8/11). In Michigan, Brendan Quinn noted UM and MSU "faced off last year at Comerica Park in Detroit for the consolation game of the 49th annual Great Lakes Invitational." Next year's matchup in Chicago will mark the latest in a series that "draws plenty of attention for its outdoor exploits." On Dec. 11, 2010, in a matchup dubbed, "The Big Chill," the schools "played in front of 113,411 fans at Michigan Stadium, the largest crowd in the history of the sport." The game "served as a rematch" to a game played at Spartan Stadium on Oct. 6, 2001, dubbed "The Cold War" (MLIVE.com 8/11). MSU coach Tom Anastos said, “We’ll create a special uniform for that event. We kept that in mind as part of our normal process, just because we knew this was in play, so we were keeping it as a consideration. Given that it is done, we’ll move forward and get something done for it" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 8/12).
