Ice preparations for Winter Classic moved up because of rain

CHICAGO -- With inclement weather potentially hitting the city in the next few days, the NHL began putting lines, face-off dots and logos on the ice at Wrigley Field on Thursday as preparation continues for the Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues on Tuesday (5 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS).

“Looking at the forecast, we want to make sure we get that done and not hold, because they want to be able to seal that and build up enough ice above it,” NHL executive vice president of events Dean Matsuzaki said. “We’ve moved it up a little bit to hopefully find a window. We’re delayed because it is raining.”

The lines and logos were originally scheduled to be done on Friday, but according to AccuWeather, there is a 91 percent chance of rain that day. There’s also an 84 percent chance of rain on Saturday.

On both days, the temperature is expected to be around 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Some rain on Thursday also postponed the start of the line and logo placement, which was originally scheduled to begin around 11 a.m. ET. However, the crew got underway at noon by putting in the blue and red lines before moving on to the face-off dots, the logo at center ice, the goal creases, and the trapezoid area behind each net.

“Last week was pretty crisp and clean for us, but we can work through it. We’ve managed in the past,” Matsuzaki said. “At this stage in our build, it’s better than dealing with snow because you don’t have to remove rain. It drains nicely. If it were coming down as snow right now, it would get in our way in a lot of areas. It’s actually not too bad right now."

Nevertheless, rain means the crew will likely have to work on other things, in particular the indoor areas of Wrigley Field.

“We have to do a lot of rubber matting in a lot of the locker room areas, dressing rooms, clubhouses and all the pathways to the rink. And for the visitors’ side, the stairwell. So, that’s kind of work we can shift,” Matsuzaki said. “We typically don’t schedule that because we know we want to fill that in if we do get weather and be able to shift to that work. We have a plan in place until it changes.”

Matsuzaki added that they “got a little ahead of things going into the Christmas break,” which allowed the crew to go home and spend the holidays with their families.

Outside of the ice, an auxiliary rink, which is situated in left field, is just about complete. So is the entertainment stage, on which The Smashing Pumpkins will play during pregame festivities. Chance the Rapper, who like The Smashing Pumpkins is from Chicago, will follow that up with a performance during the first intermission.

“Our entertainment group is flying in today and they’ll start putting graphic logo on (the stage),” Matsuzaki said. “We’ve run power and everything to the stage already, but they will start planning out all the lighting and audio and all that.”

All in all, preparations are coming together well for the Winter Classic. Some weather is forcing scheduling changes, but everything is moving right along as planned.

“It’s starting to look like a rink,” Matsuzaki said. “And by this afternoon with actual lines and logos it’ll really look like a rink.”