However it appears to be going into the books as a much smaller crowd than anticipated, The Big Chill at the Big House on Saturday in Ann Arbor still set a world record for attendance at a hockey game.
Guinness World Records has certified the crowd for the Michigan vs. Michigan State game at Michigan Stadium at 85,451 people, far short of the announced attendance of 113,411. It still was enough to beat the previous attendance mark of 77,803, set during the opening game of the IIHF world championships in May, when Germany hosted the United States.
A Guinness spokesperson e-mailed the 85,451 figure to the Free Press today. A follow-up e-mail about whether the number could still grow was not immediately returned.
"We will continue to work with Guinness to identify the exact number of people that went through the scanners and those who had their tickets torn," said Matt Trevor, assistant media relations director for U-M hockey. "We knew we would end up with two different numbers because of different standards used."
Trevor said, “Guinness doesn't count those who were working the game, including media, staff and concession workers. Michigan does include those people in its attendance figure.”
The Cold War between U-M and MSU in 2001 at Spartan Stadium drew 74,554 fans.
