Good ol' Fashion Pond Hockey, Kirk Maltby is the Grand Marshall for the event this year in St Clair Shores. Although they have already had to postpone the event due to the weather. Not cold enough for ice to be safe enough to play on.
http://www.ci.saint-clair-shores.mi....ondhockey.html

If the game is in Ann Arbor you would have to figure that all the hotels, or even the NHL/Red Wings would have some type of park and ride shuttles from Detroit to AA [[or they could take the high speed mass transit!)

Yes, this is about making money and yes this about being a true Winter Classic event. What if the city of Detroit had their WinterBlast set up the same weekend as the game. Have viewing parties hosted around the city. I'd rather watch the game from a heated area, rather than sitting 500 feet away from the rink.

With that being said, AA would probably be a horrible place to watch a hockey game as the seats will be too far from the ice. Similar to watching the Final Four in Ford Field. That stadium was built for Football, not a raised basketball court at the 50yd line.