Fighting heavy wind and blowing snow, NHL work crews completed the initial phase of converting Ralph Wilson Stadium into a hockey rink for next week's Winter Classic outdoor game. "The process of building the ice has begun," NHL spokesman Jamey Horan said Monday. Crews spent the past 24 hours surveying and protecting the field, unloading equipment and establishing refrigeration lines in preparation for the Sabres' game against the Penguins on New Year's Day. The game will be the NHL's second played outdoors and first in the United States after the Oilers played the Montreal Canadiens at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium on Nov. 22, 2003.