2013 Winter Classic Information

We've know this for awhile now, but it's about to become officially official.

The 2013 Winter Classic is coming to the great state of Michigan.

The league has announced two press conferences scheduled for tomorrow regarding a "MAJOR announcement" about the Red Wings (can't imagine what it could be). The first presser will be at 10:30a ET at Comerica Park and the second presser will be 1:15p ET at Michigan Stadium. Both will be streamed on the Red Wings official website and NHL.com.

In a press conference this morning at Comerica Park in Detroit featuring the best owner in pro sports, the league and the Wings announced that the 2013 Winter Classic will indeed be held at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. There is a follow-up presser to be held at Michigan Stadium today at 1:15p ET where reps from Michigan will speak about the opportunity to host such an event.

Next January 1st, myself, J.J., Graham and 115,000 of our friends (and some enemies) will be packed inside the Big House in Ann Arbor to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs take on our beloved Detroit Red Wings in the biggest hockey spectacle ever. The game should easily break the current hockey attendance record of 104,173 that was set by Michigan State and Michigan at The Big Chill at the Big House in December 2010.

The Winter Classic will be the first to feature a team from outside the United States. The Maple Leafs history with the Red Wings, large fan base in both Canada and the United States, plus Toronto's close proximity to Michigan without a doubt factored into the leagues decision to include them. The game will feature two die hard fan bases that will easily sellout the game. I can't wait to see the aerial shots of the stadium and seeing giant sections of red (and a little bit of blue). And! Michigan Stadium (and the entire U of M campus) does not allow the sale of alcohol, but part of the agreement between the university and the NHL is to allow the sale of alcohol at the game. So if the Winter Classic is anything like H2H2, you'll want to be around the WIIM gang.

More on the event after the jump.

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Detroit was able to snap out of their recent playing slump with a good effort against the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday. Returning to the Joe Louis Arena to shoot for consecutive win number 18 on their home ice was enough to get Detroit a victory, even after losing the 2-0 lead they built in the first half of play. After Edmonton tied it, the Wings poured it back on and came away with the 4-2 victory.

The Oilers were given seven power play opportunities in this game thanks to some heroic work by the refs to give penalties randomly. Fortunately, the Wings could say they won the special teams battle for the first time in what feels like a month. The Oilers did get one on the power play, but 1-7 isn't nearly as bad as they had been lately. The Wings were also able to go 1-4 on their own power play chances with Johan Franzen scoring his 2nd PP goal in as many games. Overall, the Wings outshot the Oil 30-17. Nearly half of Edmonton's shots came in the third period.

CSSI Methodology Explanation here

Goalie Ratings

Joey MacDonald gave up a breakaway goal (in what was basically a 2-on-0 rush) and a power play goal. Neither of these were soft. Unfortunately for him, the low number of shots his team allowed worked against him in the sv% department. Overall, I felt that MacDonald wasn't much of a factor in the game. He wasn't forced to keep Detroit in it nor was he the reason they had to score as many as they did. This will get MacDonald an even rating overall. In the head-to-head, I'm also going to make this one even. Khabibulin had a bigger workload and was forced to make more big saves, but he also struggled with rebound control much more and really should have had what turned into the game winner.

Scoring and plus/minus analysis after the jump

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