The Blackhawks will host another preseason game in Milwaukee in the fall, a source told the Sun-Times on Monday.
The game against the Blues will be held at Fiserv Forum — the home of the NBA’s Bucks — on Oct. 5, two years after the Hawks visited the arena for a preseason game against the Wild in October 2022.
That 2022 event — the NHL’s first foray into Wisconsin since 1993 — was a big success, shining a spotlight on the passionate yet underrated hockey community in the state. The roughly 15,000 available tickets sold out in less than an hour, and 81% of tickets were purchased by Wisconsin residents rather than by Hawks fans traveling up from Illinois.
A few players politely mentioned after that game that the ice conditions were subpar at Fiserv Forum, which isn’t designed for hockey. That issue should be addressed and improved this time around.
Less than three months after the preseason game, the Hawks again will host the Blues in an unconventional location — Wrigley Field — in the Winter Classic on Dec. 31. The rest of the NHL’s 2024-25 preseason and regular-season schedule will be announced this summer.
