The 2025 Winter Classic will be more than just another outdoor game for the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues. It will be a symbol of the next chapter in their legendary rivalry.
A Winter Classic Rematch
The 2025 Winter Classic, scheduled for December 31, 2o24, will take place at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. It will be the second time the Blues and Blackhawks have matched up in the Winter Classic. The Blues won the last matchup, 4-1, in 2017 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri.
In 2017, the two teams were in much different places than they are now. The Blackhawks were just a season and a half past their 2015 Stanley Cup Championship, their third in six seasons. The Blues, meanwhile, were coming off their exciting run to the Western Conference Final in 2016. Both teams had Stanley Cup aspirations on their minds.
Fast-forward to now. Both teams are onto retooling and rebuilding. Many heroes of their respective Stanley Cup teams have left. Therefore, the 2025 Winter Classic will symbolize the next chapter of their rivalry.
Forever Rivals
In order to understand and appreciate where the rivalry is heading, the rivalry’s past needs to be explore. The Blues and Blackhawks became division rivals for the first time in 1970. The teams met in the playoffs three years later, with the Blackhawks winning the series in five games.
The rivalry heated up in the 1990’s. Each team had its own collection of stars. The teams met up in the 1993 playoffs. The Blues swept the Blackhawks. The final game is remembered by Blackhawk goalie Ed Belfour‘s outburst on the ice following a controversial series-winning goal.
The 2010’s
The Blackhawks saw great success in the early 2010’s. The team won the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013, and 2015. Many proclaimed the Blackhawks were the NHL’s latest dynasty. On the other hand, the Blues, while a consistent playoff team, were not having success.
The teams met in the first round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Four games went to overtime. The Blackhawks won the series in six games, winning four games in a row after losing the first two. The Blues had gone all out to try and have a deep playoff run by trading for goalie Ryan Miller at the 2014 NHL Trade Deadline. The Blackhawks ended that dream in six games.
In 2016, the Blues and Blackhawks met again, with the Blackhawks as the defending Stanley Cup Champions. In an intense, seven-game series, the Blues won to eliminate their rivals. The Blues would go on the Western Conference Final that season. The Blackhawks would not win another playoff series until the play-in round in the bubble of 2020. The Blues did experience the ultimate success once since that time as they would win their first Stanley Cup in 2019.
The Rivalry Today
As both teams are in retooling and rebuilding modes, the rivalry has lost some of its intensity. Matchups have become more about bragging rights for the fans. The classic memories of 1993, 2014, and 2016 are still engraved in the memories of the franchises. Both sets of fans proudly wear their Stanley Cup merchandise and argue about who gets custody of Darren Pang. One day, the rivalry will have intensity again.
A Rivalry’s New Chapter
The 2025 Winter Classic will symbolize the next chapter of the rivalry. While the intensity may not be what it once was, the outdoor game gives a sneak peak at the next chapter.
Both teams have young players who will undoubtedly be a big part of the next chapter of the rivalry. For the Blackhawks, Connor Bedard will take the ice at Wrigley Field as Patrick Kane once did. For the Blues, Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou will look to do the same level of damage as Vladimir Tarasenko did back in 2017.
As the young players battle it out on the ice on New Year’s Eve, it will be for two points that may not end up mattering at season’s end. However, it will be a preview of what is to come. A new chapter of this legendary rivalry will be here one day. Robert Thomas and Connor Bedard will possibly one day stare at each other right before a Game 7 faceoff. When that moment comes, we will remember that day at Wrigley Field. We will remember how two teams who were trying to get it going again met up for another outdoor games. We will remember how the youth gave our franchises hope for the future.
The 2025 Winter Classic begins the next chapter of the Blues and Blackhawks rivalry. The intensity may be gone for now, but it will return to the ice soon.
Main photo credit: Jeff Le USA TODAY Sports
