CHICAGO — When the NHL announced in February the 2024 Winter Classic would be held in Chicago, some wondered why they’d put the Blackhawks back in the national spotlight.

The answers were quite obvious:

Connor Bedard and Wrigley Field.

Blackhawks president of business operations Jaime Faulkner said then the team began mapping out a 10-year plan with the NHL on signature events in December 2020 and didn’t expect to get another Winter Classic this soon.

“Connor (Bedard) has accelerated everything,” Faulkner said.

Well, everything but winning.

It’s going to take a lot more than one young star to do that, as the Hawks have discovered in Year Two of the Bedard Era.

The Hawks resided at the bottom of the NHL standings Tuesday when they took the ice at Wrigley Field against the St. Louis Blues, a far cry from their inaugural Winter Classic 15 years ago when they were on their way to the first of their three Stanley Cups in the 2010s.

Whether the Hawks will have to wait another 15 years for another invite to the NHL’s in-season glamour game is up for debate. The plan by general manager Kyle Davidson to surround Bedard with veterans and take a big step forward didn’t pan out, making this New Year’s Eve game a “classic” in name only.

No matter. It was still Wrigley Field, home of the Cubs and numerous other outdoor activities in 2024, from Journey and Pearl Jam concerts to a women’s soccer match to Northwestern football and Upper Deck golf.

The atmosphere at Tuesday’s 6-2 loss was as good as the Hawks could’ve asked for, with lines to the souvenir stands so long many missed the Smashing Pumpkins performance and the first Blues goal by Cam Fowler less than two minutes in.

A special day began with a special ride for the Hawks. They got to enjoy a chartered trip on the “L,” getting on at the Fullerton Red Line stop and getting off five minutes later at Addison before crossing Sheffield Avenue to Wrigley Field.

Sure, the players could’ve hiked 10 minutes from the United Center to the Pink Line stop at Ashland, then transferred to the Red Line at the State/Lake station, and jostled with strangers for a seat while making no eye contact.

But too much of a real Chicago experience can be dangerous, so a brief trip for the TV cameras and social media was sufficient.

“It was fun to do that and get the experience of what it’s like to come to a Cubs game,” Hawks veteran Connor Murphy said, ignoring the fact most Cubs fans don’t get a chartered “L” car.

Coach Anders Sorensen was into the spirit of the event, recalling beforehand that he attended the original Winter Classic as a fan back in 2009. I asked Sorensen where he sat and what he remembered about the day.

“Nosebleeds, (sat) right by the chicken wire,” he said. “The cheapest tickets. It was an awesome experience. It was really cold and I remember I paid a lot of money for hot chocolate.”

Tuesday’s game was cold and raw, and the hot chocolate was even more costly, so hopefully Sorensen was able to expense it.

Nothing was cheap at the Classic, though that didn’t stop fans from buying $38 beers in a souvenir mug shaped like a hockey stick, giving new meaning to the term high sticking.

During the game, the NHL held a New Year’s Eve party in a section of right field behind the actual rink. Hoping for an invite, I snuck into the party area under the bleachers, only to discover there was no alcohol being served at the party.

The faux “partiers” were paid $125 “to help cover transportation costs,” according to the invitation. The payment was only available for those who stayed in the “Party Pit” the entire game. And just like a real Cubs game, none of the fake partiers were paying attention to the action.

But fake vines, fake snow and a faux party could not ruin the vibes at Wrigley. The Ricketts family, which owns the Cubs, decided years ago to monetize Wrigley as much as humanly possible, a decision that didn’t sit well with some traditionalists.

Nevertheless, it has worked out well for the Cubs owners’ bottom line, as well as for those who enjoy watching concerts and other sporting events at the iconic ballpark. Really, would you sit in the upper deck of Rate Field to watch the Hawks play on a cold, drizzly December night? Maybe for $125?

During the first Winter Classic at Wrigley, on New Year’s Day 2009, I ventured into a suite where Chicago legends Billy Williams and Bobby Hull sat with Detroit Red Wings Hall of Famer Ted Lindsay. Hull pointed to the seats where he once sat for Bears games, and Williams recalled getting his Bears tickets from former Bears receiver Dick Gordon.

Back in the 1960s, many athletes of our legacy teams lived here year-round and supported the other Chicago teams. While Cubs Pete Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch showed up to watch the Hawks practice Monday, and former Bull Derrick Rose braved the cold Tuesday, it’s a different era. Now most of our athletes leave town when the season ends.

Tuesday’s game marked the end of a particularly awful year for Chicago’s five legacy teams, though it was a very good year indeed for Wrigley Field.

The Red Stars hosted the first National Women’s Soccer League match at Wrigley on June 8 against Bay FC, drawing an NWSL record crowd of 35,038. Ohio State’s debut at Wrigley against Northwestern on Nov. 16 drew 38,147 football fans, most of whom were clad in scarlet and gray. Buckeyes fans turned it into the party of the year in Wrigleyville, making the neighborhood their own version of High Street in Columbus, Ohio.

For decades the Cubs’ owners — from then Wrigleys to Tribune Co. — marketed Wrigley Field as a place to go for sunshine and beer, making the Cubs’ win-loss record a secondary concern. There was no sun to be found Tuesday, while the $38 hockey beers were selling like hotcakes at the frozen confines.

Wrigley has always been a cool place to party, but Chairman Tom Ricketts told me before buying the team that “calling Wrigley Field a beer garden is unfair.”

“Obviously, people come out here and socialize as well as watch a game,” he said. “People have been coming here for 25 years or they came with their grandfather. Obviously, there is a social aspect to Wrigley that’s terrific, but I wouldn’t call it a beer garden.”

Maybe not.

But as Pearl Jam, the Red Stars, the Buckeyes and the Blackhawks proved in 2024, the garden at the corner of Clark and Addison streets no longer depends on the Cubs for a party.

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