Ice truck arrives for Discover NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field

CHICAGO -- The mobile refrigeration truck arrived at Wrigley Field on Monday in preparation for the Discover NHL Winter Classic on Dec. 31 (5 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS).

The Chicago Blackhawks will host the St. Louis Blues at the iconic ballpark on New Year’s Eve, and as a result, converting Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, into an ice rink began immediately.

“Everything really started early this morning with the arrival,” NHL senior director of facilities and hockey operations Derek King said in front of the truck, which was parked at the corner of Sheffield and Waveland, near the entrance to the Wrigley Field bleachers and the statue of Harry Caray, the Cubs’ television announcer from 1982-97.

“You can see behind us they’re starting to put up some of the décor on the (ballpark). We’ve got some lane closures happening, and really once the work is done on the street, we’ll move the truck to its final spot and our work will start tomorrow.”

The League’s mobile refrigeration truck will also be used for the 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series on March 1, when the Columbus Blue Jackets will host the Detroit Red Wings at Ohio Stadium, home of the Ohio State Buckeyes, in Columbus, Ohio.

As for Wrigley's prep, King said the field was covered on Monday and the armor deck will soon be put down over it.

“Once that’s completely covered, we’ll start our work getting the truck parked and then starting all the piping connections down to the field,” King said.

The Blackhawks are hosting their second Winter Classic at Wrigley, having played the Detroit Red Wings there on Jan. 1, 2009, a 6-4 win for Detroit. This will mark the second time the NHL has held the Winter Classic more than once in the same park. The 2010 and 2023 editions were played at Fenway Park in Boston.

“We were both fortunate enough to work the event at Fenway a couple of years ago (2023), which was awesome,” NHL senior manager of facilities and hockey operations Andrew Higgins said.

“Obviously older, iconic buildings present challenges for us. Not as roomy as a football stadium, but for me at least, it’s so cool to be here in these old, iconic stadiums. I can’t wait to get started.”

This also will be the first Winter Classic played on New Year’s Eve.

Neither King nor Higgins were part of the crew for the 2009 game, but they’ve looked back at that game and that build.

“For us, it’s going to be pretty much the same,” King said. “We have our number of days we know we’ve got to build the rink, and once we get into the ice making time, probably Friday evening we’ll start making ice. We have enough time set aside for that through the holidays.”

The crew’s goal is to be done on Dec. 28, so that skates can hit the ice beginning the next day.

The most important aspects of making outdoor ice for an NHL game are ensuring conditions meet all of the safety standards required for the players and providing all of the tools necessary for an NHL game.

To accommodate its outdoor games, the NHL designed and built a one-of-a-kind mobile refrigeration unit and rink system. The main function of the 53-foot, 300-ton capacity refrigeration unit is to perform the key function of making a great sheet of ice, to remove heat from the surface and stabilize the temperature.

To ensure this, the unit pumps up to 3,000 gallons of glycol coolant into custom-made aluminum trays that are configured on the field of the stadium. Running through a series of hoses from the refrigeration unit to the field, the glycol chills the trays to keep the ice near its ideal surface temperature of 22 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Once we get those pans below freezing, we’ll start spraying water, just like they do at United Center,” King said. “Our goal is probably to have 1 1/2 to 2 inches of ice. We’re looking to replicate those conditions inside United Center for the players on game day.”

After the placement of the ice trays, the rink boards are installed.

The weather conditions for this week should benefit the building process. Monday through Friday, temperatures are expected to be anywhere from 32 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit and cloudy each day.

“Perfect,” Higgins said. “Above freezing, not raining, not snowing so these are great working conditions for us.”

As of now, the forecast for Dec. 31 is cloudy with a high of 38 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wrigley Field presents its challenges, being a small venue. But the iconic ballpark was a great setting for the Winter Classic 15 years ago and promises to be again.

“Our builds are similar, whether we’re doing an NFL stadium to baseball stadium," King said. "We know where we’re going to park the truck, we’ve planned out our pipe run, so really, we’re working in a smaller space, but the build is the same as we’d do anywhere else.

“To be in Chicago, to be at Wrigley, is pretty cool. It’s going to be a really special event.”