Blackhawks arrive to Winter Classic in ‘Team Chicago’ gear to honor first responders

The Chicago Blackhawks arrived to the Discover NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field in the most Chicago way possible.

The team rode to the stadium on the iconic CTA train, the classic way for fans to arrive to the ballfield, wearing a custom collection of “Team Chicago” gear.

“Taking the train is fun,” said Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy. “I think that’s the best way to enjoy summer in Chicago is going to a Cubs game and taking the train. … A lot of guys haven’t been here long enough to take the train either, so it was fun to do that and kind of get an experience of what it’s like coming to a Cubs game and for us to be able to experience this under their stadium like this is really unique.”

The outfits honor first responders with Chicago Fire, Police and Emergency Management & Communications patches down their sleeves and pants. Each player also had the opportunity to pick a charitable or community-based organization to wear on their hat.

During walk-ins, the players had a bagpipe procession to lead them to the stadium.

They also tied their skates to their sticks and carried the equpment in on their shoulders.

“We thought what hasn’t been done is the skates over the shoulders like you would as a kid," said Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno. "I think it brings it back to ... how a lot of us would walk to an outdoor rink, an outdoor game.”

The captain group of Foligno, Murphy and Seth Jones came up with the outfit idea as a way to put the national spotlight of the Winter Classic onto the city of Chicago.

“One of the big things we talked about was our first responders too and what they mean to our community and what they do for us,” Folingo said. “And we wanted to kind of highlight that and also highlight what means a lot to us. So, you’ll see a lot of guys’ charity of choice or something that they really feel is a big part of what matters to them in their personal lives.”

The St. Louis Blues walked to the Winter Classic wearing gear from “Gretzky’s Basement” to honor Wayne Gretzky.

“This is the iconic game for the NHL season to sell our game to the masses and no one has sold this game than Wayne Gretzky,” said St. Louis Blues coach Jim Montgomery. “And I thought it was great that, led by our captain Brayden Schenn, that they’re honoring Wayne Gretzky this way.”

– NHL.com senior writer Tom Gulitti contributed to this report