December 11, 2010: The largest paid attendance ever at a hockey game sees "The Big Chill at the Big House."
The seeds for this epic event had been sowed 9 years earlier. The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, outside Detroit, and Michigan State University in East Lansing, outside the State capital of Lansing, are arch-rivals, although UM also claims big rivalries with Ohio State and Notre Dame. Although the rivalry is at its biggest in football, it is also big in basketball and hockey.
Someone at MSU got the idea to play a UM-MSU hockey game outdoors, at MSU's Spartan Stadium. UM liked the idea, and the game was played on October 6, 2001, billed as "The Cold War." The game ended in a 3-3 tie.
The attendance was 74,544, the biggest crowd ever to see a hockey game anywhere. It broke the record set at the 1957 Ice Hockey World Championships at the Lenin (later Luzhniki) Stadium in Moscow, where the Soviet Union beat Sweden in the Final. It also surpassed the largest crowd ever to attend a National Hockey League game, set on October 9, 1993, when the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning before 27,227 fans at the ThunderDome (now Tropicana Field) in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The Cold War inspired other outdoor hockey games. On November 22, 2003, the Edmonton Oilers hosted the Montreal Canadiens in a "Heritage Classic" at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, with the regular game preceded by an old-timers' game representing the teams. That got 57,167, setting a new NHL record, but was well short of the world record.
The NHL instituted the Winter Classic, to be held every New Year's Day (or on January 2 if January 1 falls on a Sunday, as has happened in 2012 and 2017 -- or not at all in 2013 due to a team owners' lockout, and in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The 1st was held on January 1, 2008, at Ralph Wilson (now Highmark) Stadium in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York. A new NHL record crowd, but not world record crowd, of 71,217 saw the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Buffalo Sabres, 2-1 in a shootout.
A new world record crowd of 77,803 came to the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, home of soccer team Schalke 04, to see Germany defeat the U.S. in the Final of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship on May 7, 2010.
So the U.S. was determined to retake the record. Again, it was the Michigan Wolverines and the Michigan State Spartans, only this time, at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. Due to its immense size, Michigan Stadium is known as "The Big House," so this game was billed as "The Big Chill at the Big House."
The crowd was announced as 113,411, which, at the time, would even have broken the record for a football game at the place. But it was revealed that the actual paid attendance was 104,173. Still, this was far and away a new record, anywhere on Earth, for a hockey game. And the result was no contest: The Wolverines won, 5-0.
On January 1, 2014, Michigan Stadium hosted the NHL Winter Classic, and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the "host" Detroit Red Wings, 3-2 in a shootout. The paid attendance was a new record: 105,491. However, UM officials still count the 2010 Big Chill as the record. Regardless, this is the current NHL record. And, since 2010, no hockey game other than this one in 2014 has surpassed 100,000. So, whichever of these games you consider to be the record will remain so, at least for a while.
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December 11, 2010 was a Saturday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL played the next day. The regular season of college football had only 1 game left, and it was played at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia: Navy beat Army, 31-17.
There were 8 games played in the NBA:
* The Boston Celtics beat the Charlotte Bobcats, 93-62 at what's now named the Spectrum Center in Charlotte. Yes, that's a full 48-minute game, and the Hornets-to-be only scored sixty-two points.
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Indiana Pacers, 97-83 at what's now the State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 110-95 at the Toyota Center in Houston. Kevin Martin scored 40 points.
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Utah Jazz, 103-97 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
* The Toronto Raptors beat the Detroit Red Wings, 120-116 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 113-82 at the United Center in Chicago.
* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 84-83 at what's now the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
* And the Miami Heat beat the Sacramento Kings, 104-83 at what's now the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento. Dwyane Wade scored 36.
There were 13 games played in the NHL, none of them having an attendance of higher than 23,000:
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 4-1 at the Prudential Center.
* The New York Rangers lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-1 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
* The New York Islanders lost to the Atlanta Thrashers, 5-4 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 in overtime at the TD Garden in Boston.
* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at what's now the Capital One Arena in Washington.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-2 at what's now the KeyBank Center in Buffalo.
* In the 1st game of CBC's Saturday Hockey Night In Canada doubleheader, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1 at what's now the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
* The Nashville Predators beat the Florida Panthers, 3-0 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the St. Louis Blues, 2-1 in a shootout at what's now the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
* The Phoenix Coyotes beat the Dallas Stars, 5-2 at what's now the Gila River Arena in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.
* The Minnesota Wild beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-2 at what's now the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
* The Chicago Blackhawks lost to the San Jose Sharks, 2-1 in overtime at the SAP Center in San Jose.
* In the 2nd Hockey Night In Canada game, the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Vancouver Canucks, 5-4 in overtime at what's now the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
* The Anaheim Ducks, the Calgary Flames, the Edmonton Oilers and the Ottawa Senators were not scheduled.