SYRACUSE, N.Y. (theahl.com) … The Syracuse Crunch established a new attendance record for an indoor professional hockey game in the United States as 30,715 fans filled the Carrier Dome on the campus of Syracuse University for a regular-season American Hockey League game against the Utica Comets on Saturday night.
The Crunch, top development team of the National Hockey League’s Tampa Bay Lightning, defeated the Comets, top affiliate of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, 2-1, in the Toyota Frozen Dome Classic.
The previous all-time record of 28,138 fans was set at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., for a 1996 National Hockey League playoff game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Philadelphia Flyers. Tonight’s turnout also represented the second-largest crowd in the 79-year history of the AHL.
The Syracuse Crunch were also the first AHL team to put on an outdoor game when in 2010, a crowd of 21,508 fans – then the largest ever for an AHL game – packed the New York State Fairgrounds to watch the Crunch.
The Carrier Dome now owns two major attendance marks. On Feb. 1, 2014, the 35,446 fans who watched Syracuse University defeat Duke set an NCAA men’s basketball on-campus record.
The Toyota Frozen Dome Classic will be re-broadcast on NHL Network in the U.S. on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
| Largest Single-Game Crowds, AHL History | ||
| *45,653 | Citizens Bank Park Philadelphia, PA |
Jan. 6, 2012 |
| 30,715 | Carrier Dome Syracuse, NY |
Nov. 22, 2014 |
| *21,673 | Rentschler Field East Hartford, CT |
Feb. 19, 2011 |
| *21,508 | NYS Fairgrounds Syracuse, NY |
Feb. 20, 2010 |
| 20,672 | Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC |
Jan. 18, 1997 |
| *20,565 | Ivor Wynne Stadium Hamilton, ON |
Jan. 21, 2012 |
| *20,337 | Comerica Park Detroit, MI |
Dec. 30, 2013 |
| #20,103 | Wells Fargo Center Philadelphia, PA |
June 10, 2005 |
| *outdoors… #playoffs | ||
