A huge winter storm overwhelmed airports on Wednesday which caused airlines to cancel more than 6,000 flights for the second day in a row. They gave up all flights in or out of Chicago, where for a while the only plane that landed at O’Hare International brought the Blackhawks hockey team.

The airlines have canceled more than 13,000 flights in two days, according to flight tracking service FlightAware.com. The cancellations were focused at O’Hare, one of the most important air hubs in the nation.

The airlines’ decision to stop flying in Chicago waved out to airports situated around the country since even travelers who aren’t destined to go to Chicago catch connecting flights there on American or United, which use O’Hare as a hub.

Snow and ice hampered flights elsewhere too. Southwest Airlines Co. canceled some morning flights on Wednesday from Columbus, Ohio, and its entire morning of flights from Dallas.

There were 474 flights going in and out of Boston that were cancelled and 639 at New York LaGuardia, according to FlightAware. In total, there were 1,356 flights were scrubbed at the three large New York-area airports as a result of the ice and snow.

American Airlines was more troubled by a slowdown at its largest hub in Dallas after ice layered the runways on Tuesday. The sum of 1,600 cancellations by American, as well as regional partner American Eagle already added up to almost half of their schedule, spokesman Tim Smith said.

A charter flight bringing the hockey team Chicago Blackhawks landed around noon although most airlines stopped trying to fly by Tuesday night at O’Hare. Steve Kasteler said it is critical for the team to arrive home and rest.