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The defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings will indeed play outdoors at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL's second Winter Classic, New Year's Day 2009.

"The NHL is delighted to bring its most historic rivalry to one of the most historic venues in sports," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said during a press conference held at the stadium that houses the Chicago Cubs.

The Wings had been a candidate to play outdoors for some time and general manager Ken Holland is quite pleased the league chose them to compete in what the league hopes will become an annual outdoor event on New Year's Day.

"It's a tremendous opportunity to promote our game, our league and our team and have a once-in-a-lifetime experience at the same time," Holland told reporters Wednesday.

Last season, the Buffalo Sabres hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first Winter Classic at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Some 71,000 fans watched, as snow fell and the Penguins beat the Sabres, 2-1 in a shootout.

Montreal and Edmonton participated in the league's first attempt at an outdoor game, dubbed the Heritage Classic, on Nov. 22, 2003, at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.

Wings defensemen Chris Chelios and Brett Lebda are both from Chicago.

"It's awesome, especially since I'm from there and grew up watching the Cubs," Chelios said. "I'm really looking forward to it, but right now I'm just trying to enjoy the rest of my time off."

Chelios, who played for the Blackhawks from 1990 until he was traded to Detroit in 1999, said he's got a one-year deal in place to return to the Wings for his 24th season in the NHL.

"Everything's done," Chelios said. "I've just got to sign it."

The Wings' participation in the New Year's Day game will put on hold their long-standing tradition of hosting a game on New Year's Eve. Detroit had hosted a game the day prior to the New Year every year since 1955, except for 1996 and excluding the years there were work stoppages (1994-95 and 2004-05).

Detroit will host the Blackhawks at Joe Louis Arena on Jan. 30.

An interesting side note to the Wings' participating in the NHL's third outdoor game, newly acquired goalie Ty Conklin was the starter between the pipes for the other two, as a member of the Oilers in 2003 and last season with the Penguins.

The original rumor of this season's game had the Wings playing at Yankee Stadium, which is being demolished after this baseball season, against the New York Rangers.

"We also acknowledge the interest and efforts of the New York Yankees and the City of New York throughout the NHL Winter Classic 2009 site selection process," Bettman said. "We look forward to continuing discussions regarding the possibility of playing a future Winter Classic game at the new Yankee Stadium."

According to NBC, which will air the game at 1 p.m. on New Year's Day, last year's contest, which again will go up against a number of college bowl games, earned a 2.6 overnight rating and a 5 share, the best overnight rating for a regular-season game in more than a decade.

The meeting between the longtime Original Six rivals will be the 701st in the series, the most meetings between two teams in the NHL.

Wrigley Field is the second oldest baseball park in the major leagues behind Boston's Fenway Park. Wrigley opened in 1914 and the Cubs played their first game there two years later.

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The Wings will raise their 11th Stanley Cup championship banner on Oct. 9 against a long-time rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The league also announced Detroit's home-and-home Eastern Conference opponents for this season: Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Atlanta. Free agent signee Marian Hossa played for both the Penguins and Thrashers.

The Wings took care of Pittsburgh in six games to claim the Stanley Cup this past season.

The league has gone to a new scheduling format this season, in which every team will play each franchise at least once and cut down on games within their division by two from a year ago.