MADISON (AP) -- Brendan Smith sent a crowd of 55,031 chilly fans home happy Saturday, scoring two power-play goals in the last six minutes to rally third-ranked Wisconsin past Michigan 3-2 in the Camp Randall Hockey Classic.
The game was played outdoors at Camp Randall Stadium, home of the Badgers' football team. The temperature at game time was in the lower 20s and wind chills were near 10 degrees.
"It was so different from being inside. It was an awesome atmosphere," Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves said.
The crowd was the second-largest ever for a collegiate game and the largest to see a Wisconsin Badgers game, eclipsing the 40,890 that watched the Badgers beat Ohio State 4-2 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay on Feb. 6, 2006. Michigan's last appearance in a game like this was a 3-3 tie with Michigan State in The Cold War on Oct. 6, 2001. A record crowd of 74,544 filled Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich. for that game.
"I thought it was a great event that Wisconsin put on," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "These outdoor games are always classics and a great experience for all the players, coaches and fans."
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Smith scored the game-winner at 18:38 of the third period. He also netted the equalizer four minutes earlier. Both came with the Badgers having a man advantage.
"We executed at a critical time, which says a lot about the guys on the team because Michigan played a tremendous game," Eaves said.
Wisconsin was 2-for-4 on the power play.
"Wisconsin is good on the power play, so we knew we needed to do a good job to kill their power play, but we didn't," Berenson said. "They executed as good as it gets on the power play. We were prepared, but just couldn't do it."
Jordy Murray opened the scoring for Wisconsin (16-7-4) early in the first period, but Scooter Vaughan tied it for the Wolverines (15-13-1) late in the period.
Michigan went up 2-1 on Kevin Lynch's goal at 11:03 of the third period.
Wisconsin goalie Scott Gudmundson had 22 saves and Michigan's Bryan Hogan had 24 stops.