Mild weather may (not) postpone Winter Classic

Preparations at Wrigley Field for New Year's Day's NHL Winter Classic are on schedule as the ice rink takes shape on Monday, Dec. 22, 2008 in Chicago. The Chicago Blackhawks will play host to the Detroit Red Wings in the third NHL game to be played outdoors since 2003. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)Believe it or not, it being late December, but the Chicago area is anticipating mild weather on New Year's Day. This, of course, would make laying a sheet of ice over Wrigley Field quite impossible. The current chatter is that if the game is not played on New Year's Day, it will be played sometime later in the weekend, when temperatures are expected to be more Chicago-like. Some news reports are much more doom-and-gloom than others. It appears that NHL officials are confident the game will go on as planned.