Russia saw a new national record for attendance at an ice hockey game on Sunday when a reported 71,000 fans saw the home team defeat Finland 5-0 at St. Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena.
The officially announced attendance figure of 71,381 far surpassed the previous highest attendance tally for a game in Russia or the Soviet Union, which was set in 1957 when 55,000 fans saw the home team take on Sweden in Moscow.
Sunday’s game was played at the newly–renamed Gazprom Arena in St. Petersburg – usually home to local Premier League football team Zenit.
It was converted into a hockey venue especially for the game, and home fans were treated to a dominant victory thanks to goals from Kirill Kaprizov, Vasili Tokranov, Nikita Nesterov, Andrey Pedan and Mikhail Grigorenko - which also handed the team the ‘Channel One Cup’ title.
The official word record for an ice hockey game took place at Michigan Stadium in the US in 2010, when local teams the Wolverines and Spartans faced off. The turnout that day was 113,000 announced, with 104,000 certified.