Hockeytown Winter Festival To Feature Alumni, College, AHL, OHL, Youth Hockey Games

During a Thursday morning press conference, several announcements related to the 2013 Winter Classic were made. For starters, it was confirmed that the game will take place at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor and feature the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. That was only part of the news, though.

The other big announcement was that a Hockeytown Winter Festival will be held in the month of December in the lead-up to the Winter Classic. One of the concerns about having the game in Ann Arbor was that Detroit would be left out of the festivities, but that will not be the case. In fact, there will be quite a few hockey games played at Comerica Park in Downtown Detroit. Here are more details:

In addition to the Winter Classic Game between the Red Wings and Maple Leafs in Ann Arbor, a number of events are being planned for Comerica Park in downtown Detroit. Beginning in mid-December, this salute of hockey called "The Hockeytown Winter Festival" will include a two-week outdoor celebration for hockey fans of all ages and will be highlighted by a star-studded NHL Alumni game between the Red Wings and the Maple Leafs at Comerica Park – date and time TBD.

In addition to the Alumni Game, the Hockeytown Winter Festival will include the 2012 Great Lakes Invitational (featuring Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech and Western Michigan), an AHL game featuring the Grand Rapids Griffins and Toronto Marlies (affiliates of the Red Wings and Maple Leafs), two OHL games (one featuring the Plymouth Whalers and London Knights and one featuring the Saginaw Spirit and Windsor Spitfires) and several other events (youth and high school hockey games, open skates, etc.).

Although the main event will be played in Ann Arbor, Detroit will play a big role in all of the festivities that surround this event.

For more on the Detroit Red Wings, check out Winging It In Motown. You can also head over to SB Nation's main NHL hub at SBNation.com/NHL.