Which once again proves my theory: Germans love…ice hockey?
May 8, 2010, 10:30 AM EDT
Please forgive me for my indulgence of riffing on the classic “Germans love David Hasselhoff” bit of the brilliant Norm McDonald (seriously, go check out his appearances on Conan O’Brien on Hulu – they are a disturbing testament to his comedic genius), but this story is far-freaking-out.
77,803 hockey-rabid fans packed the Veltins Arena football stadium in Gerlsenkirchen, Germany to take in a first round matchup between Germany and the United States in the opening game of the IIHF World Championships.
I’m no mathematician, but according to my calculations…that’s a whole bunch of people.
Unfortunately, our American hockey players could not re-create our country’s noble efforts in WWI and WWII and came up a bit short against the German offensive, losing 2-1 in overtime. But the magnitude of the event was surely palatable to every player who took the ice.
A report on the record-breaking attendance, from IIHF (via Puck Daddy):
Organizers were hoping to break the old record of 74,554 spectators, set in a 2001 game between Michigan State University and the University of Michigan, and they did just that, and more.
The history-making audience also broke the World Championship record attendance of 55,000 spectators, set in the 1957 world tournament in Moscow when the deciding game between the Soviets and Sweden was played in the Lenin Stadium (now: Luzhniki Stadium).
That is awesome. I can only imagine the sort of electricity that was in the air with nearly 80,000 people passionately watching a hockey game. I only wonder how many people would have shown up to the game here in the States. I reckon with the passion and dedication exhibited by hockey fans here in the U.S., we could have matched that number, given the appropriate venue. At the same time, that might have been tough. You know, with the Yankees and Red Sox playing this weekend and all. Our nation is riveted, right? It’s all about priorities. Let me put it to you this way: if there were a David Hasselhoff concert going on at the same time, they would have been lucky if 1,500 people showed up Veltins Arena.
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Record crowd watches Germany top U.S. in Worlds opener [Universal Sports]
What hockey in front of 77,803 fans looks like in Germany [Puck Daddy]
Historic win for Germany [
