Wild to play Blackhawks, including alumni game, at TCF Bank Stadium next year

The Wild will play their first regular-season outdoor NHL game next season and they'll do so on the University of Minnesota campus through which many of the state's hockey greats have passed.

Minnesota Wild and Gophers officials joined with representatives from the National Hockey League, the Chicago Blackhawks and the NHL Players' Association at TCF Bank Stadium on Wednesday to reveal their plans for the 2016 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series.

The Wild will play the Blackhawks outdoors at TCF Bank Stadium on Feb. 21, the first of two league games -- the other being Colorado vs. Detroit at Coors Field in Denver -- the NHL announced in January. But the day before the Stadium Series, which was launched last year, a special game will be played at TCF Bank Stadium featuring alumni from the Wild, Blackhawks and Minnesota North Stars.

It will be a big weekend in the State of Hockey.

"With so much great hockey having been played on the University of Minnesota campus, TCF Bank Stadium will serve as an ideal setting for this outdoor renewal of the Wild-Blackhawks rivalry," said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

While much of the attention will be on the Wild's matchup against the Blackhawks -- the latter have eliminated the former from the playoffs in each of the last three years -- the alumni game should be plenty exciting, too.

Former players from the Wild and North Stars will team up for Minnesota to take on Blackhawks legends from the past. Team Minnesota's roster will feature Mike Modano, Dino Ciccarelli, Bobby Smith and more, and will be coached by Lou Nanne and Tom Reid. The Blackhawks team, coached by Tony Esposito and broadcaster Pat Foley, will include Ed Belfour, Jeremy Roenick and others.