The Cold War
The largest hockey attendance in history was on October 6, 2001, for a game commonly known as the Cold War. Two college hockey rivals, University of Michigan and Michigan State University, opened their season with a game in Michigan State's outdoor football arena, Spartan Stadium. A $500,000 sheet of ice was used, and the temperature was 30 °F (−1 °C). The game drew a record-breaking 74,554 spectators, smashing the previous number of 55,000 attendance during the Sweden vs. Soviet Union game during the world championship in Moscow.[38]
[edit] The Heritage Classic
The Heritage Classic was an outdoor ice hockey game played on November 22, 2003 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between the Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens. It set the record for most viewers of a single NHL game with 2.747 million nationwide.
An old-timers game, referred to as the MegaStars game, was played prior to the regular-season match, and featured alumni of Oilers playing against a squad of former Canadiens. This is the only NHL alumni game in which Wayne Gretzky has played since retiring, and he maintains it will be the last.
[edit] The 2008 Winter Classic
The largest crowd to ever watch an NHL game was during the AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic when 71,000 people watched the Pittsburgh Penguins battle the Buffalo Sabres. The game was held at Ralph Wilson Stadium, which is the home stadium of the National Football League's Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, New York, a suburb of Buffalo, on January 1, 2008. This was the first NHL game held outdoors in the United States. The Penguins scored the first goal within the first 20 seconds of the game. The Sabres then scored in the 2nd period to tie the game. The game went into overtime and the Penguins ended up winning during a shoot out on a goal by Sidney Crosby. Both teams wore throwback jerseys[citation needed] for the NHL despite the cold temperatures and snow. - the Penguins donning the powder blue jerseys from the 70s and the Sabres old-logo jerseys from the same era. Both goalies, Ryan Miller and Ty Conklin played in their second outdoor game. The game was easily a success from a PR and hockey standpoint
[edit] Number of registered players by country
Number of registered hockey players, including men, women and junior, provided by the respective countries' federations. Note that this list only includes countries with more than 1000 registered players. Out of 68 IIHF members 31 have more than 1000 registered players as of December, 2009.[39]
Country  | Players | % of Population |
|---|---|---|
 Canada | 499,695 | 1.50% |
 United States | 465,975 | 0.15% |
 Czech Republic | 97,102 | 0.95% |
 Russia | 84,720 | 0.06% |
 Germany | 68,800 | 0.06% |
 Finland | 61,684 | 1.18% |
 Sweden | 60,374 | 0.67% |
 Switzerland | 24,705 | 0.33% |
 Japan | 21,027 | 0.02% |
 France | 17,133 | 0.03% |
 Austria | 10,378 | 0.13% |
 Slovakia | 8,671 | 0.16% |
 Italy | 6,454 | 0.01% |
 Norway | 6,385 | 0.14% |
 United Kingdom | 5,627 | 0.01% |
 Kazakhstan | 5,251 | 0.03% |
 Latvia | 4,539 | 0.20% |
 Ukraine | 4,228 | 0.01% |
 Denmark | 4,056 | 0.07% |
 Belarus | 3,302 | 0.03% |
 North Korea | 3,270 | 0.01% |
 Netherlands | 3,059 | 0.02% |
 Poland | 2,923 | 0.01% |
 Australia | 2,836 | 0.01% |
 Mexico | 2,220 | 0.002% |
 Hungary | 2,034 | 0.02% |
 New Zealand | 1,510 | 0.04% |
 Romania | 1,500 | 0.01% |
 Slovenia | 1,434 | 0.07% |
 South Korea | 1,247 | 0.003% |
 Belgium | 1,192 | 0.01% |
| Total | 1,443,498 |
