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

It is also the first Winter Classic to be played on New Year’s Eve.

Dempster, who played for the Cubs from 2004 to 2012, has been a game analyst and studio host on Marquee Sports Network, the Cubs’ television flagship, since its launch in 2020. A native of Gibsons, British Columbia, he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.

There’s a lot of Chicago in Dempster, who was here for the 2009 Winter Classic and is looking forward to it.

“This is something very special,” he said. “We talked about that before. Being able to have a hockey game outside where these guys are living their lives. They’ve all played on a pond somewhere, on an outdoor rink at some point, they’ve all done it before. To come full circle again at a moment like this, at a place like Wrigley (is great).

“I was here for the game in 2009. I sat all the way up behind home plate behind the upper deck and can’t wait to see it again on New Year’s Eve. It’s something special. There are very few places as iconic as Wrigley, like Fenway Park. It’s just going to be so much fun to do it here.”

The current forecast for Dec. 31 in Wrigleyville, the neighborhood where the ballpark is located, is cloudy and 38 degrees. That would be a little warmer than Wednesday, about 32 degrees, and Vlasic was okay with that.

“It’s perfect at the moment. I just thought that. This is perfect,” he said. “So hopefully it stays that way.”

Wrigley has been a place full of memories over the years. Foligno and Vlasic were able to enjoy a hockey-baseball crossover of sorts on Wednesday and will look to make more memories with the Blackhawks at the stadium in about two weeks.

“The sport of hockey offers so many great opportunities and experiences and this is one of them,” Foligno said. “I met a childhood athlete in Ryan Dempster who I adored and admired, and it’s pretty impressive that he’s taking us around the place he made famous and was famous.

“This is such a storied franchise (Cubs), the Blackhawks are such a storied franchise, to be able to heal the two of them and put on this event is really special and we’re thrilled to be here.”