If you build it, they will come...

Are you a sucker for time-lapse videos?

Watch as speedy little ant-men transform a baseball stadium, Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park, into an outdoor hockey rink.

A 53-foot-long ice truck housing the majority of the equipment needed to create the temporary rink in preparation for the 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic arrived in the City of Brotherly Love this week, and a team of workers got busy.

Originally, the fifth annual outdoor regular-season NHL game, which pits the hometown Flyers against their Atlantic Division rivals, the New York Rangers, was to be held in the Philadelphia Eagles’ Lincoln Financial Field. But because the Eagles are slated to play there on Sunday, Jan. 1, there wouldn’t be enough time to prepare the ice. The NHL needs at least a week of setup time for such a transformation. The 2012 edition of the Winter Classic will also be the first time that the game will not be played on New Year’s Day. Because New Year’s falls on a Sunday, the NHL chose to avoid a TV conflict with the slate of important NFL matches.

Between this time-lapse clip that flips the home of the Phillies into the home of the Flyers and HBO’s golden 24/7: Road to the Winter Classic series, we couldn’t be more excited for the Jan. 2 open-air afternoon showdown. Check the expiry date on your egg nog and settle in.