12/15 Winter Classic Quick Hits

There are so many articles and blogs talking about the Winter Classic coming up on New Year's Day so it's hard to stay on top of everything, but here are some recent articles that I found to be interesting. Please feel free to suggest any articles I may have missed in the comments.

• Greg Wyshynski over at Puck Daddy had a fantastic two post series about the marketing of the Winter Classic featuring a lengthy interview with Brian Jennings, the executive vice president of marketing for the NHL.
  
• There have been some great stories/articles about John McDonough, the Chicago Blackhawks president and former Cubs' president, and how he got the Winter Classic to happen and helped turn around the franchise. Dan Rosen at NHL.com wrote a great piece about his career and how he turned the Hawks around. A separate NHL.com article by Rosen discussed how McDonough was able to convince the league to have Wrigley Field host Winter Classic II.
• The Chicago Daily Herald talks to Dan Craig, who is in charge of making the ice perfect for the big game. He says it shouldn't be as stressful this season because he now has a crew of ten that he knows and can trust to get the job done whereas last year everyone and everything was new so he didn't get much sleep in the six days leading up to the game.
• Michael DiLorenzo is the NHL's director of corporate communicatiions and has been blogging for the NHL on the road to the Winter Classic with the NHL's mobile refrigeration unit from Mobile, Alabama to Chicago. It's an entertaining read and you can also follow him live on Twitter.
• Fans in attendance and those watching the game on TV can spot the player with the missing Reebok logo on his Winter Classic jersey and enter to win a pretty nice Stanley Cup package. 
• Some of the Chicago Cubs players plan to be at Wrigley Field watching the game, which should be a bit weird for them to see their baseball field covered by a hockey rink.

You can view the two commercial spots for the upcoming game below: