ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The NHL has put one of its signature events on ice.The Winter Classic, scheduled between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs for Jan. 1 at Michigan Stadium, became the latest casualty of the league’s lockout.

“The logistical demands for staging events of this magnitude made today’s decision unavoidable,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Friday. “We simply are out of time. We are extremely disappointed, for our fans and for all those affected, to have to cancel the Winter Classic and Hockeytown Winter Festival events.”

Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall was bummed out, too. He was looking forward to facing the Maple Leafs in a matchup of two Original Six teams in the home of college football’s winningest team.

“It’s obviously very sad,” Kronwall told the Associated Press. “The Winter Classic is one of the highlights of the year, and this is something everyone has been looking to because playing at the Big House would’ve been something very special.”

Don Fehr, the players union executive director, called the decision “unnecessary and unfortunate, as was the owners’ implementation of the lockout itself.”  The league said it would schedule the next Winter Classic at the stadium, which holds more than 100,000 people and had been expected to set a record for attendance at a hockey game. Among other things, the event called for a winter festival about 45 miles away in Detroit and the construction of two outdoor rinks for multiple college and youth teams.Some 400,000 people were expected in the area over the New Year’s weekend, filling hotel rooms, restaurants and bars.

NEXT, expect an announcement from Beavis Bettman that the enitre 2012-13 NHL Season will be cancelled! Too bad he won’t also be.