An American Hockey League-record crowd of 45,653 fans watched the Hershey Bears lose 4-3 to the Adirondack Phantoms Friday night at Citizen Bank Park. The attendance mark crushed the previous record of 21,673 set last year in an outdoor game between the Connecticut and Providence at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT.
The Bears and Phantoms played four days after the Philadelphia Flyers were edged by the New York Rangers, 3-2, in front of 46,967 fans during the 2012 Winter Classic, Jan. 2, at Citizen Bank Park. The largest crowd to witness a Winter Classic happened during the inaugural event at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo, NY when 71,217 people were in attendance for the Sabres vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008.
The AHL's inaugural outdoor game between Syracuse and Binghamton in 2010 drew 21,508 fans the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse.
See SBNation Philly's StoryStream for complete Winter Classic coverage. You can visit Broad Street Hockey for the Flyers perspective. For the Rangers, check out Blueshirt Banter for the Rangers perspective.