At times this week, the silence was almost eerie inside a nearly empty football stadium.

For five days, the Michigan hockey team skated in front of 109,000 empty seats, adjusting to the outdoor surface the Wolverines will compete on against Michigan State on Saturday in the Big Chill at the Big House.

Mentally, the players and coaches have pictured a world-record crowd that is expected to witness the third outdoor game Michigan has played in. As much as players relish the thought out playing inside a packed Michigan Stadium, the quiet provided perspective.

On Thursday, Michigan captain Luke Glendening was among the last skaters off the ice, cherishing nearly having the place to himself. It took him back to his childhood growing up in East Grand Rapids, skating on a backyard rink built by his father.

"It was just me and the rink," Glendening said Friday following the Wolverines' final practice before the 3 p.m. showdown Saturday (Fox Sports Detroit) with the Spartans. "You play a two-hour game, but then it's done, and so you really have to appreciate the moments you get out there when nothing is going on."

It is there, inside Michigan's storied football stadium, when the enormity of the game sets in. The game is expected to draw a crowd normally reserved for the Wolverines' football program. Players will emerge from the same tunnel football players have charged out of for generations, experiencing playing in front of more than 100,000 for the first time.

Part of Michigan coach Red Berenson's strategy for having the Wolverines practice outdoors all week was to allow the novelty of the Michigan Stadium environment to wear off. Senior Louie Caporusso called walking out of the tunnel a dream, but said the Wolverines can't get wrapped up in what's going on around them.

"We have to bury our heads and do what we have to on the ice," Caporusso said Friday. "There's a lot of distractions that come with this game. But if we don't do our jobs - and that's keeping it simple and doing what we were meant to do, nothing's going to be as great as it should have been."

They will pass under the same M-Club banner that is stretched out for the school's football team, celebrating part of the pageantry that isn't often felt by hockey players. But that tradition has ties to the school's hockey program.

In 1962, Wolverines hockey coach Al Renfrew had his wife stitch a block M on a blue sheet in an effort to boost of the spirits of Michigan's struggling football team. A bigger version of the banner has been a staple on football Saturdays ever since.

On Saturday, hockey players from the program's past will help keep the banner in place as players from this year's team touch it on their way to the rink. Among those holding it will be one of Berenson's teammates from the 1960s. Nearly 150 former players are expected to attend the game.

"He's honored to hold that banner - he's excited," Berenson said of his former teammate's selection to take part in the pre-game ceremonies. "He feels like he's part of the team for this game tomorrow. So that's the feeling. All the little things that are happening around the game are people that care about the team, that care about the program and care about Michigan."

So it's fitting, perhaps, that Michigan's hockey team will play in front of the biggest crowd to watch a hockey game.

"It makes you realize that you are part of something way bigger than just us," Glendening said. "Maybe this is the 2010-11 team, but there are people coming back to see this game and we're just part of the legacy that has already been started here."

Jeff Arnold covers Michigan hockey for AnnArbor.com and can be reached at (734) 623-2554 or by e-mail at jeffarnold@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffreyparnold.