The NHL has a huge hit with its annual outdoor Winter Classic, with the first five events drawing monster crowds in Buffalo, Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh and now Philadelphia. But it may see its biggest crowd yet in 2013, as negotiations are underway for the sixth Classic to be held in front of 110,000 at the University of Michigan.

Multiple sources told Yahoo! Sports this week that the NHL is in advanced discussions about holding the 2013 game at Michigan Stadium, affectionately known as “The Big House.”

In a statement issued last week, Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon said the NHL had approached him about hosting next year’s game, but “there are a lot of complex circumstances that need to be ironed out before anything moves forward.”

Dave Ablauf, spokesman for Michigan athletics, admitted that “we’re listening” to a pitch from the NHL, but that any confirmation of an agreement at this point would be “premature.”

The league is expected to announce the site of next year’s classic by Jan. 29, when the NHL All-Star Game will be held in Ottawa.

New York Rangers head coach John Tortorella called the officiating in the third period of Monday’s NHL Winter Classic “disgusting,” according to Yahoo! Sports.

“It started with the non-call [when] Gabby was pitch-forked in the stomach, and then everything starts going against us,” Tortorella said after the game. “They’re two good referees; I thought the game was refereed horribly. So I’m not sure what happened there. Maybe they wanted to get it to an overtime. I’m not sure if they have meetings about that or what. But we stood in there. They’re good guys. But in that third period, it was disgusting.”

He added: “I’m not sure if NBC got together with the refs.”

The Rangers won the game 3-2, but the most controversial call was when the Rangers’ opponent, the Philadelphia Flyers, were given a penalty shot with 19.6 seconds left because the officials claimed that Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh covered the puck illegally in the Rangers’ crease.

Flyers winger Danny Briere took the shot, but he was stopped by Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, preserving the Rangers’ win.

The officials were Ian Walsh and Dennis Larue.

Marc Staal will make his season debut in tonight’s Winter Classic for the New York Rangers, according to the New York Post.

Staal has been off the ice since suffering a concussion against the Carolina Hurricanes last Feb. 22. The blow to the head forced Staal to miss 34 games this season as well as the end of last season.

In 2010-11 Staal scored seven goals and tallied 22 assists for 29 points. In his five year career he has totaled 20 goals and 61 assists for 81 points.