Holiday on (outdoor) ice is smash hit for the NHL

Tinker to Evers to . . . Lidstrom?

On the same field where Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance formed a double-play combination that was immortalized in poetry, in the very place the Chicago Cubs have caused their fans a century of heartbreak, an NHL rink sat Wednesday under bright but frigid sunshine.

On that ice, so startling beneath the hand-operated scoreboard reconfigured to measure periods instead of innings, the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings will face off today at Wrigley Field and celebrate a past part fondly remembered and part manufactured.

It’s a gimmick, sure. A grab for attention.

An annual outdoor game is also the best idea the NHL has had in years. Decades. Since Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios was a kid in the Pleistocene Era.

“To me it’s amazing just looking out at the rooftops and at the bleachers and being on an ice surface, which is the craziest thing in the world if you think about it, in a baseball park. Especially Wrigley Field, with the history here,” said Chelios, nearly 47, a former Chicagoan and former Blackhawk.

“It’s going to be unbelievable.”

The ivy that usually covers the outfield walls has been recreated on canvas, ivy being as dead in the winter as the Cubs’ World Series hopes are in October. The flags that fluttered in Wednesday’s mild breezes -- predicted to become gusts today with temperatures in the mid-30s -- were the pennants of NHL teams, not baseball teams.

It was an incongruous sight, one of those moments when eyes and brain refuse to work in sync.

It was a fun moment, enhanced by the prospect of watching the defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings face an Original Six rival in the Blackhawks, whose remarkable resurgence was reined in Tuesday during a 4-0 loss to the Red Wings in Detroit.

Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit’s incomparably smooth defenseman, said he played only outdoors in his native Sweden until he was 12. “It brings back a lot of fond memories,” he said.

That’s why this novelty retains its charm and should stay fresh wherever it may be staged in the future.

It taps into the collective past of those whose childhoods included games on outdoor ponds and creates envy among those who never had that pleasure. It also mixes nostalgia with the modern technology that allows an NHL game to be played where few would have imagined.

“It’s my first time here,” Detroit goaltender Ty Conklin said, “and I didn’t think it would be for hockey.”

But here he is, an expert now as the only person to have played in all three NHL outdoor games. He started for Edmonton against Montreal in 2003 at Commonwealth Stadium and for Pittsburgh against Buffalo last New Year’s Day at Ralph Wilson Stadium, both colder than Wrigley Field is expected to be today.

Like most players, he said the glare of sun on ice caused problems during practice Wednesday. Some painted eye-black beneath their eyes as a remedy. The teams will switch ends midway through the third period to ensure neither has an advantage.

“Hopefully it will be overcast,” Conklin said.

Blackhawks rookie winger Kris Versteeg said the brightness made his eyes sting, but he said it with a smile. “You didn’t even realize it because you’re having so much fun out there,” he said.

“You don’t care if it’s shade or sun, snow or rain. This game is huge not only for us, it’s huge for the fans and it’s huge for the spectators out there. It’s just going to be a fun experience, no matter the conditions.”

One that even the NHL can’t mess up.

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helene.elliott@latimes.com

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Today’s game

Detroit vs. Chicago at Wrigley Field

10 a.m. PST, Channel 4