Michigan ice hockey coach Red Berenson calmly sat down at Saturday’s press conference following The Big Chill at the Big House, and after gathering himself for a few seconds, he let out a wry smile followed by four measly words to the media: "Pretty good show, eh?"

If a convincing 5-0 win over Michigan State in front of the largest crowd ever to watch a hockey game or a NCAA sporting event, coupled with a pre-game B2 stealth bomber fly over and post-game fireworks, is any indication, then the answer is yes.

With a recorded attendance of 113,411 at Michigan Stadium on hand to watch the Wolverines and Spartans — the teams that set the precedent for outdoor hockey games when they skated to a 3-3 tie in the Cold War back on Oct. 6, 2001 at Spartan Stadium — hockey fans from across the country and some around the world witnessed a spectacle on Saturday afternoon.

“I was hoping that people would fill up the seats. I know it was a late-arriving crowd, and you wouldn’t want a record-setting crowd without the people and say, ‘Well, we sold the tickets but nobody came,’ ” Berenson said. “That was not the case. People showed up. This was a great event.

“It was exactly as advertised, and it was the real deal. For me, it couldn’t be any better.”

But prior to the opening faceoff, Berenson’s starting neminder, senior Bryan Hogan, suffered a groin injury. Unable to play, Hogan relinquished the starting job to senior goaltender Shawn Hunwick.

“To be honest, I was a little scared,” Hunwick said about starting. “I wasn’t really prepared to play, and you try your best to get ready in practice but you know it’s not the same. You’re not mentally as sharp as you would have been if you knew you were going to play.”

Alongside Hunwick — who stopped 34 shots en route to his first shutout of the season — the Wolverines got another surprise from freshman defenseman Jon Merrill, who notched Michigan’s first two goals against the Spartans.

With Michigan on the power play midway through the first period, Merrill received a cross-ice pass from senior defenseman Chad Langlais at the right point. With the Michigan State penalty killers stretched out due to the Olympic-size ice sheet, Merrill didn’t hesitate to one-time the pass, beating goalie Drew Palmisano on the glove side to give Michigan the 1-0 lead.

“I blacked out,” Merrill joked, speaking about the fans’ cheers after scoring the first tally and the eventual game-winner later. “I don’t even know. It was nuts.”

Just under three minutes later, Merrill noticed that all of the Wolverine forwards were behind the play following a Hunwick kick save, and jumped up on the rush with senior forward Matt Rust. As Rust crossed the Spartan blue line, Merrill streaked down the right side of the ice, collecting a backhand feed from the alternate captain.

Looking more like Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nick Lidstrom than an 18-year-old freshman — a reference senior co-captain Carl Hagelin made following the game — he flipped the puck underneath the bar to give the Wolverines a 2-0 advantage heading into the locker room for the first intermission.

“Merrill’s been big all year,” Berenson said. “He’s been as consistent a player as we’ve had … For him to step up in a game like this and an event like this and score the first two goals is pretty special. He’ll never forget that.”

Through the second and third periods, Michigan doubled its lead with a pair of power play tallies from Hagelin — the Wolverines were 3-4 with the man-advantage. At the 8:57 mark of the third period, Rust corralled a loose rebound in front of the Michigan State net, spun away from a defender and feathered a pass backdoor to a wide open Hagelin. The Swedish native made no mistake about it, banging home the puck past an outstretch Palmisano.

Merrill, who generally plays on the first-power play unit, cited “keeping things simple and getting pucks to the net” as two contributing factors for the Wolverines’ success on the power play against the Spartans.

Berenson added: “We work on our power play probably as much or more than most teams, and we’ve had minimal results. And tonight, it clicked. So I cant tell you if it was any one thing, but it clicked it. Especially that first one, that was a good start for us.”

And at 8 p.m. on Saturday night, the lights were finally turned off inside Michigan Stadium after The Big Chill at the Big House.