The NHL is hoping old acquaintances will provide an unforgettable New Year’s Day in its second annual Winter Classic. The Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks – two of the original six hockey teams – will drop the puck outdoors at historic Wrigley Field- home to baseball’s Chicago Cubs.

Last year’s inaugural outdoor game provided a memorable tableaux, with Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby carving through the Buffalo snow to score the winning goal in an overtime shootout in front of the NHL’s largest regular season television audience since Wayne Gretzky’s retirement in 1999.

If the NHL hopes to top last year’s Winter Classic, it certainly has the conditions in its favor. The Red Wings won the Stanley Cup last year in a series that was the leagues highest-rated in five years. This season, the Red Wings average a 3.5 local household rating in Detroit (aka “Hockeytown, USA”) - third among all NHL clubs.

The Blackhawks, meanwhile, are more than doubling their average audience in Chicago over last season with an average 1.2 household rating and 43,000 household viewers.  They’re also leading the league in attendance, thanks in part to their nine-game winning streak riding into Wrigley. And with the forecast calling for a 30% chance of snow in the Windy City Thursday, the scene may well be as visually pleasing as last year’s Classic.

The programming window for the NHL’s Winter Classic is helped in part by the Bowl Championship Series’s decision within the last decade to move three bowl games off New Year’s Day. The National Championship Game, as it has since 2007, airs a full week after the first of the year, with this year’s contest between the Florida Gators and the Oklahoma Sooners kicking off January 8 on FOX.

Nevertheless, college football continues to dominate New Year’s Day television with a slate of bowl games across four networks.  Last year’s Rose Bowl on ABC was seen by over 19 million viewers, tops for any program on New Year’s Day.  The top 6 most-viewed sports programs of New Year’s Day were all bowl games, followed by the Winter Classic.

ABC’s “Barbara Walters Special” rounded out the top three.

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 11.3 million viewers, while ABC took second place with just over 7.4 million average viewers. FOX and NBC claimed third and fourth places with roughly 7.3 million and 5.9 million average viewers, respectively. Univision followed in fifth place with an average audience of almost 4.9 million average viewers.

CBS’s “NCIS” and “The Mentalist” rounded out the top three with approximately 18.1 and 15.9 million average viewers respectively.

Overall, ABC won the night with an average audience of almost 17.5 million viewers, while CBS took second place with just over 14.8 million average viewers. FOX and NBC claimed third and fourth places with roughly 10.5 million and 7.4 million average viewers, respectively. Univision followed in fifth place with an average audience of roughly 4.5 million average viewers.

ABC’s “20/20″ and FOX’s “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?” rounded out the top five.

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 11.1 million viewers, while ABC took second place with almost 6.1 million average viewers. FOX and NBC claimed third and fourth places with roughly 5.7 million and 4.3 million average viewers, respectively. Univision followed in fifth place with an average audience of roughly 4.2 million average viewers.

ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” was sandwiched in between the two, in second place.

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 13.7 million viewers, while ABC took second place with almost 11.2 million average viewers. NBC and Univision claimed third and fourth places with roughly 7.7 million and 4.6 million average viewers, respectively. FOX and the CW followed in fifth and sixth places with average audiences of roughly 4.6 million and 3.8 million average viewers, respectively.

CBS’s “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: NY” rounded out the top three, with 14.3 million and 11.8 million average viewers, respectively.

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 10.8 million viewers, while ABC took second place with almost 10.5 million average viewers. FOX and NBC claimed third and fourth places with roughly 8.4 million and 6.3 million average viewers, respectively. Univision and the CW followed in fifth and sixth places with average audiences of roughly 4.8 million and 2.8 million average viewers, respectively.

NBC’s 8pm to 11:30pm coverage of the voting results claimed second place, and ABC’s 8pm to 9pm Election Night coverage rounded out the top three.

Election returns coverage on CBS, FOX, and Univision dominated the rest of the top ten.

Overall, ABC won the night with an average audience of just over 13.2 million viewers, while NBC took second place with almost 12.5 million average viewers. CBS and FOX claimed third and fourth places with roughly 7.4 million and 4.7 million average viewers, respectively. Univision and the CW followed in fifth and sixth places with average audiences of roughly 4 million and 2.4 million average viewers, respectively.

ABC’s “20/20″ and NBC’s “Deal Or No Deal” rounded out the top five.

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 10.4 million viewers, while ABC took second place with just over 4.8 million average viewers. FOX and NBC claimed third and fourth places with roughly 4.6 million and 4 million average viewers, respectively. Univision followed in fifth place with an average audience of roughly 3.3 million average viewers.