In the eyes of Chicagoan Conrad Brewer, 8, there was too much recognition of the St. Louis Blues in the form of statues, flags and other signage at the fan festival before Tuesday’s hockey game at Wrigley Field.
“Since it’s in the Chicago hometown, I think we should have more Chicago Blackhawks things than Blues,” Brewer said late Tuesday morning as a light rain fell on a parking lot a block north of the field, where festivities would go on until 3:30 p.m., a half hour before the NHL Winter Classic puck drop.
Brewer predicted that the last-place Hawks would prevail against their division rival, the .500 Blues, by a score of 2-1. The Hawks would strike first. Then the Blues would tie it up. Ultimately, the hometown squad would carry the day.
On the ice, St. Louis led 4-1 late in the second period.
The Hawks were on a four-game slide and haven’t won an outdoor game since 2014.
A steady stream of fans in red and black equipped with umbrellas and ponchos — sprinkled with fans in royal blue and gold, also equipped with rain gear — were advised by greeters near the festival entrance on West Grace Street that to the left there was a free hot chocolate table for alleviating woes that possibly stemmed from the dreary weather and the recent poor fortune of Chicago sports teams.
The hot chocolate came with marshmallows infused with Pepsi.
At the festival, fans could wait in line to take a picture with the Stanley Cup, play a claw machine filled with hockey pucks, shoot pucks, challenge their friends to a game of giant air hockey, try to get an autograph from Blackhawks legend Denis Savard and buy merch.
On Tuesday afternoon, Wayne Gretzky spoke on a panel with Savard and Hawks color commentator Darren Pang.
A little after 10:30 a.m., when the festival began, the bar at the center of the wet parking lot wasn’t busy. But it wasn’t completely idle. Hayden Welch, a 21-year-old senior at DePaul University on winter break who came back to Chicago for the festival, said he had two goals for the day: get a glimpse of Lord Stanley’s Cup and Gretzky.
“I want to see the cup. I want to have a chance to see the ‘Great One,’” said the Wisconsin native, who was in town to attend the festivities with a friend and wasn’t going to the game.
Camille Bearden, 28, drove from St. Louis with her husband and another couple for the game and the festival. Bearden, who attends a few Blues games every year, said she was surprised by how many St. Louis fans were in Chicago.
She was enjoying herself in spite of the rain and liked the Skee-Ball-inspired puck shooting game.
“I really enjoyed Skee-Ball, but I was not very good at it, but it was fun,” Bearden said.
Nick Bostjancic, 18, of the southwest suburbs, was hanging out with his 13-year-old brother at the festival and planned on going to the game.
“We both play hockey,” Bostjancic said. “We’ve probably been fans since birth, whenever I could remember.”
A highlight of the saturated festival for Bostjancic was posing for a photo and having his own hockey trading card made. He wasn’t expecting many highlights during the game.
“I don’t think they’re going to win, to be honest,” Bostjancic said of his hometown team. “I’ve been to four outdoor games, and they’re 0-4.”
Licensed NHL artist S. Preston was selling a limited edition Winter Classic print at one table, which was protected by a tent like many of the tables at the festival.
The print was an illustration of the phrase “Madhouse on Addison,” a nod to the street where Wrigley is and the nickname for the Blackhawks’ usual home.
“A lot of my art is clever, fun,” Preston said. “I call it non-man cave art. It’s more artwork for the living room.”
The showdown at Wrigley was the Hawks’ fifth Winter Classic appearance and seventh appearance outdoors — where hockey originally was played.
