Cold War

Cold War

1 2 3 Total Michigan 1 1 1 3 Michigan State 1 0 2 3
Date	October 6, 2001
Arena	Spartan Stadium
City	East Lansing, MI
Attendance	74,544

The Cold War was an college ice hockey game played between U.S. college rivals Michigan State University and the University of Michigan on Saturday, October 6, 2001. It set the world record for the largest crowd at an ice hockey game: 74,544.^[1]

Longtime rivals with the U of M in hockey (and other sports), MSU decided not to play this contest at East Lansing's Munn Ice Arena, but instead set up an ice rink in the middle of the much larger Spartan Stadium, which they filled to 103.4% of capacity. This meant that 74,544^[2] packed the Big Ten football stadium (the home of the MSU football team) to watch the MSU Spartans and the U-M Wolverines skate to a 3-3 tie.^[3][4] Two 300-piece marching bands were present on field and the game was internationally televised. Country artist Shannon Brown sang during the second intermission.

Other outdoor hockey games

The Cold War set off a wave of outdoor ice hockey games in large stadiums. In November 2003, the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens dropped the puck on the Heritage Classic – the NHL's first regulation outdoor game. An NHL record crowd of 57,000 that braved -18 °C temperatures was also treated to Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier returning as Oiler alumni in the preceding Alumni Game.

On February 11, 2006, Ohio State and Wisconsin attracted 40,890 fans to the Frozen Tundra Hockey Classic at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers.

The Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins played the AMP NHL Winter Classic at Ralph Wilson Stadium near Buffalo on January 1, 2008. Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller played for Michigan State in the "Cold War" game and played in the Winter Classic game as well.^[5] The game reset the NHL attendance record to 71,217.

On January 1st, 2009, the Chicago Blackhawks hosted the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL Winter Classic. The game was played at Wrigley Field in front of 40,818 fans. Detroit won the game 6-4 over Chicago. ^[6]

The effects of this event were felt in Europe as well, where local Swiss rivals SC Bern and SC Langnau held their 100th meeting at Bern's Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf in front of 30,076 spectators on January 14, 2007. The game was sold out within 53 hours of tickets going on sale. These two teams regularly fill one of Europe's largest ice hockey arenas, the Bern Arena, with 16,000+ fans. The attendance was the largest in European club ice hockey history, and broke a 40-year old mark set in Sweden.

Scheduled (and possible future) contests

There has been speculation of a four-team doubleheader (featuring Boston College, Boston University, Michigan and Michigan State) to be held at Fenway Park; however, MSU coach Rick Comley and U of M coach Red Berenson stated on June 1, 2009 they were unaware of such plans. Talks are also under way to determine whether a game at Yankee Stadium between the New York Rangers and the New York Islanders would be possible. The Detroit Red Wings have looked into hosting a game at Detroit's Ford Field (although it is a domed stadium; a more likely venue would be Comerica Park, controlled by Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch).

Michigan and Wisconsin will play at Camp Randall Stadium on February 6, 2010. Michigan and Michigan State will meet on December 11, 2010 at Michigan Stadium. Both games have the potential to set a world attendance record, with Camp Randall's maximum capacity of 80,321 and Michigan Stadium's projected 110,000+ capacity at the completion of its current renovation project due to be completed prior to the game.

The opening game of the 2010 IIHF World Championship is scheduled to take place at Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany on May 7. On this occasion, the stadium's planned configuration would allow for a capacity of 75,976. This would break the world ice hockey attendance record that is currently held by Spartan Stadium.

Rumors have also circulated of a possible outdoor game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers to take place at Penn State's Beaver Stadium in the 2010-11 season or possibly afterward. Beaver Stadium's seating capacity of over 100,000 would likely lead to broken attendance records for all hockey games, only second to Michigan.^[7]

Also, the owner of Finland's SM-liiga team Jokerit, Hjallis Harkimo, was planning to organize an outdoor game between Jokerit and their rivals HIFK in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium, but there was some controversy between Harkimo and the Stadium owners. However, it is possible the event takes place in the near future.

There are ongoing negotiations for an outdoor game in the Swedish Elite League. The game would be played at Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden and the participant teams would be Frölunda from Gothenburg, versus long time rivals, Färjestad from Karlstad. The game is currently scheduled to take place December 29th, 2009.^[8]

Television

The game broadcast by FSN Detroit, which made it available nationally. The announcers were Matt Shepard, Billy Jaffe and Shireen Saski. John Keating hosted a pregame show.

References